A Scientist Accidentally Developed Sunglasses That Could Correct Color Blindness [View all]

[Judi Lynn]

A Scientist Accidentally Developed Sunglasses That Could Correct Color Blindness

The California company EnChroma is creating lenses that allow some to see colors for the first time


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The impact of EnChroma sunglasses: the left shows what a wearer with red-green colorblindness would typically see. The right shows what they see while wearing the sunglasses. (EnChroma)
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By Li Zhou
smithsonian.com
March 3, 2015

One afternoon in 2005, Don McPherson was playing ultimate Frisbee in Santa Cruz. He was wearing a pair of sunglasses, when his friend, Michael Angell, admiring his eyewear, asked to borrow them. When he put the glasses on, he was stunned by what he saw.

McPherson recalls Angell saying, with surprise, “I can see the cones,” referring to a set of orange traffic cones nearby. What made this a startling observation was that Angell had been colorblind his whole life. The sunglasses, which McPherson, a materials scientist, had engineered, actually allowed him to see the orange hue for the first time, and distinguish that color from the surrounding grass and concrete.

Based in Berkeley, California, McPherson, who has a PhD in glass science from Alfred University, originally specialized in creating eyewear for doctors to use as protection during laser surgery. Rare earth iron embedded in the glasses absorbed a significant amount of light, enabling surgeons to not only stay safe, but also clearly differentiate between blood and tissue during procedures.

In fact, surgeons loved the glasses so much, they began disappearing from operating rooms. This was the first indication that they could be used outside the hospital. McPherson, too, began casually wearing them, as sunglasses. “Wearing them makes all colors look incredibly saturated,” he says. “It makes the world look really bright.”

More:
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/scientist-accidentally-developed-sunglasses-that-could-correct-color-blindness-180954456/#78Jb6BvOY0zQMLv8.99