PHA-Exchange> Oxford professor invents self-focusing glasses

[Aviva]

> Oxford professor invents self-focusing glasses
> ----------------------------------------------
> 
> By Meg Kociemba and Jonathan Thompson
> 15 December 2002
> 
> Source: Independent U.K.
> http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health/story.jsp?story=361710
> 
> An Oxford physics professor is selling 10 million pairs of revolu-
> tionary new spectacles to Africa which enable the users to wear them 
> for a lifetime without ever going to an optician.
> 
> The glasses could help the billion people around the world who are 
> deprived of spectacles but suffer from long or near sight. Joshua 
> Silver's simple invention could in theory help to eradicate adult il-
> literacy in developing countries.
> 
> Professor Silver's "adaptive glasses" look like ordinary ones except 
> for the two knobs on either side of the frame that can adjust the 
> curvature of the lens. It means that in countries where opticians are 
> scarce, wearers can simply alter the focus as their eyesight deterio-
> rates over time.
> 
> Uncorrected poor vision is considered among the most serious problems 
> in the developing world, holding back economies by forcing educated 
> classes to retire early with failing eyesight. The World Health Or-
> ganisation (WHO) estimates one billion people worldwide need but do 
> not have access to spectacles.
> 
> The lenses are filled with silicon oil, controlled via a small pump 
> on the frame. This alters the curvature of the lens, allowing the 
> wearer to see clearly with the simple turn of a knob. Through a deal 
> with the WHO and the World Bank, Prof Silver plans to sell up to 
> 400,000 adaptive glasses in Ghana with another deal for 9.3 million 
> pairs in South Africa also in the pipeline. The glasses are sold at 
> about GBP 6 through his company Adaptive Eyecare, based in Oxford, 
> http://www.adaptive-eyecare.com/technology.htm but cost less than 
> that to make. With just 50 opticians in Ghana out of a population of 
> almost 20 million, glasses that last a lifetime will prove a boon.
> 
> "It would take on average about 200 years to be seen by an optome-
> trist in Ghana," explained Prof Silver. "But adaptive glasses obviate 
> the need for a trip at all."
> 
> The professor began work on his invention 17 years ago  although the 
> technique of using liquid in lenses dates back to the 18th century. 
> "When I first started working with variable power lenses, it was sim-
> ply to see if they could be made," he said. "Then I realised that if 
> I could build something with the potential to help millions of peo-
> ple, I ought to just go out and give it a go."
>