| It may shock you to learn that sunglasses | | | | Atlantic City, New Jersey. Foster's sunglasses |
| weren't always used to protect people's eyes | | | | were sold at Woolworth on the boardwalk. |
| from the sun. The history of sunglasses dates | | | | In 1936, sunglasses became polarized when Edwin |
| back to ancient China and Rome. It has been | | | | H. Land began using his patented Polaroid filter |
| reported that the Roman emperor Nero enjoyed | | | | when making sunglasses. Around this time, even |
| watching gladiator fights through polished gems. In | | | | more Americans started buying sunglasses. |
| China, sunglasses were used in the twelfth | | | | Famous movie stars and musicians also began to |
| century or even earlier. Sunglasses were first | | | | wear sunglasses. They started to become not |
| made out of lenses that were flat panes of | | | | only a way to protect against sun glare, but also |
| smoky quartz. These types of sunglasses could | | | | a way to be "cool." Sunglasses became a cultural |
| not correct vision, or protect from harmful UV | | | | phenomenon, and some people wore them even |
| rays, but did reduce glare. Chinese judges used | | | | when it wasn't sunny, or when they were indoors. |
| the smoky quartz glasses to hide their facial | | | | Today, sunglasses continue to have advances. UV |
| expressions when they interrogated witnesses. | | | | protection has almost become an industry |
| Sunglasses did not undergo further changes until | | | | standard, and there are sunglasses available for a |
| about the eighteenth century because of the | | | | variety of sports. There are numerous tints |
| work of James Ayscough. He experimented with | | | | available for sunglasses, and sunglasses have |
| tinted lenses in spectacles. Ayscough was | | | | changed styles over the years. Prescription |
| steadfast in the belief that glasses tinted with a | | | | glasses have also been given tints that only |
| blue or green color could potentially correct | | | | appear when the sun's rays hit the glasses. In |
| specific vision problems. Ayscough was not | | | | 2004, Oakley developed a brand of sunglasses |
| concerned with protecting the eyes from the | | | | that had a built-in digital audio player. Many blind |
| suns rays. | | | | people now wear sunglasses, and many |
| Sunglasses underwent the change into the popular | | | | recognizable celebrities can be found wearing |
| item they are today when Sam Foster introduced | | | | sunglasses. Even fictional characters can be seen |
| them to America in 1929. These sunglasses were | | | | wearing them. Sunglasses have come a long way |
| designed to protect people's eyes from the sun. | | | | from their early Roman and Chinese history! |
| Foster sold his sunglasses on the beaches of | | | | |