Silver's Glasses – "do it yourself"
Adaptive glasses will give the world to a billion poorHelping one billion people see better is a grand goal.
A British professor, the creator of universal customizable glasses, aspires to it. And in itself, this invention is cute, but the energy with which the author of the project is trying to help a huge number of people in developing countries deserves much more respect.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), currently about a billion people on the planet need vision correction (many of them are children), but cannot afford to buy even a banal pair of glasses. No wonder: a significant proportion of the world's population lives on a dollar or two a day per person. And this is not only a personal tragedy for the visually impaired. This is a huge social and economic problem. After all, people are often forced to quit their jobs at the working age.
There is another side to this story that few people think about. In Britain, one optometrist (a doctor who is able to professionally pick up glasses for a patient) accounts for 4.5 thousand people, and in sub-Saharan Africa this ratio is 1: 1,000,000. That's why the "distribution" of glasses to people in need of them (even if there is money for it), in any noticeable amounts, is simply unrealistic.
Joshua Silver, an Oxford professor of nuclear physics and lasers, thought about all this back in 1985. Then, for the first time, he decided to create universal glasses that the patient could easily adjust to himself (photo by Oxford University).
It took many years to find a better solution, but in 1996, retired Silver founded Adaptive Eyecare, which introduced the first prototype of such glasses and even began selling it. However, the sale was not quite ordinary: not without the help of charitable organizations, glasses were distributed among the population of the poorest countries of the planet.
The innovation was called adaptive glasses, or informally – Silver glasses. They are surprisingly easy to arrange. Transparent flexible pouches filled with silicone liquid are placed between two transparent polymer membranes fixed in the frame.
On each side of the glasses, ordinary plastic syringes filled with the same liquid are connected to these pouches. The patient puts on these glasses in this form and then begins to slowly move the pistons of the syringes. The liquid fills the bags or, on the contrary, is pumped out of them, thereby changing the thickness and curvature of the lenses. As soon as a person gets the desired result, that is, he begins to see clearly, by turning tiny screws, the cavities in the lenses are sealed, and the syringes are disconnected. All – personalized glasses are ready to use.
30 thousand pairs of Silver glasses have already found their grateful owners in 15 countries. But the professor himself considers this achievement a drop in the bucket. The whole point of adaptive glasses is mass and cheapness. Otherwise, it would be possible to rely on traditional technologies. But where people sometimes have nothing to eat for lunch, they are not suitable.
Now Silver's serial glasses cost $10. Not much in comparison with good glasses made of high-quality optical glass. But the British innovator believes that in the future, with the growth of production, the price can be brought down to one dollar at all!
And so that the words do not diverge from the deed, the professor joined forces with a major Indian businessman Mehmood Khan, who owns the Rasuli Kanwar Khan Trust family charitable foundation. The partners intend to distribute a million customizable glasses in one of the northern Indian states in 2009. "A million is a penny for me," Khan explains, inspired by the Briton's invention. However, the details of this new project and, in particular, all the details of financing are not yet completely clear.
But it is very important to set a good start in Joshua's venture. "As soon as the thing starts working," says Khan, "people find out about it, and then the government, the UN, already show interest. The model becomes scalable. People are starting to believe."
Adaptive glasses are adjustable from -6 to +6 diopters, so that more than 90% of people with impaired vision are suitable.
Of course, the heavy design, one frame size for all – features that cause fair complaints.
But, firstly, it is much better than not having any glasses at all, having impaired vision. And secondly, the British company is already working on expanding the "model range" and improving the design (photo Adaptive Eyecare).
A million points next year for India is also just a springboard to a larger–scale activity. The goal of the British inventor is to reach the level of production of 100 million pairs per year.
In total, he intends to provide a billion people in need with glasses of his design by 2020. Perhaps, in terms of scope, this enterprise will be more complicated than a "hundred–dollar laptop", despite the fact that plastic glasses are far from a laptop in complexity.
But if everything goes according to plan, the changes will be enormous. Millions of poor people with poor eyesight will get glasses for the first time in their lives. This means that male fishermen will be able to repair their nets, women will be able to weave, children will be able to study, and the average literacy rate in these countries will increase. "Liquid glasses" with mass distribution can produce a doping effect for the economy of the third world.
As a simple example, the professor cites Henry Adjei-Mensah, a man whom Silver met in Ghana during the first "field" tests of miracle glasses conducted at the expense of the British government.
Henry worked as a seamstress, but only at the age of 35 he had to quit his job. His eyesight deteriorated dramatically. Ajay-Mensakh, who lost his livelihood, was simply saved by the project. After putting on his glasses and adjusting them, Henry smiled and showed how he could thread the needle again. "Now he can work again," the professor rejoices.
The participants of the first project to distribute Silver glasses in poor countries note that people's reaction is the same everywhere – smiles, laughter and exclamations: "Look, now I can read these little letters!" We believe that such an award means more to Joshua than several prizes in the field of design and innovation won by his invention in past years.
Portal "Eternal youth" www.vechnayamolodost.ru26.12.2008