Eyeglasses have been around since 13th
century Italy, and the design has not changed much over the years,
except for different types of frames, which change with fashion.
During 1887, a German named Adolf Fick decided to do away with
frames altogether and simply stick the lens directly on his eye.
The first contact lenses were 21mm (0.8 inches) wide and made from
blown glass, with a sugar solution between the lens and the eye to
cut down on friction. They were bulky and uncomfortable, but blown
glass contacts lasted for 50 years until they were replaced with
plastic ones in 1936.
Even though Fick was the first person to make a practical
contact lens, he was not the first to try. Leonardo da Vinci is said
to have invented a type of contact lens in 1508 made out of a bowl
of water. Rene Descartes supposedly built a water-filled tube that
was designed to go into the eye, but the idea never took off because
it stuck out so far a person could not blink.