Take the Lens Trivia Quiz below to test how much you know about "Lenses Through Time." You may be surprised at how little you know.
After the test, or if you don't want to take the test, check out our Lens Time Line filled with fascinating trivia about the development of lenses over time.

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Lens Trivia Quiz

 

1. Roman Emperor Nero viewed the Gladiator games through lenses. Which gem was used to make these lenses?

Ruby Emerald Diamond Sapphire

2. Although historians have pinpointed the late 13th century as the likely time spectacles were first invented they don't know who the inventor was, just his nationality. Which nationality was he?

English French German Italian

3. Counterfeiting or "lens bait and switch" has been going on since the 14th century. Which lens material was substituted for the more valuable rock crystal?

Diamonds Glass Plastic Lead

4. In the 14th century, eyeglasses were an extravagant statement of wealth and power. Which class of people were not among the privileged to benefit from the use of spectacles?

Clergymen Noblemen Royalty Blacksmiths

5. What invention spurred the wide use of reading glasses?

Weaving Machines Guttenberg's Printing Press Glass Blowing Dyecasting

6. Determining the right lens for the given eyeglass wearer was an arduous task. In the early 17th century the first graded lenses were invented. What nationality were the inventors?

Italian German French Spanish

7. Historical sources indicate that the concept of combining both distance and near lenses into one set of eyeglasses was invented around 1775. Who was the likely first inventor?

Benjamin Franklin Henry Morse Samuel Pierce Thomas Mann

8. Which U.S. President created a major public relations coup for an Ophthalmologist whose waiting room became packed with wanna-be patients as a result?

Andrew Jackson George Washington Thomas Jefferson Samuel Adams

9. Which invention, in 1926, created as much a need for distance-seeing eyeglasses as the Gutenberg Printing Press had for reading or close-up seeing spectacles 470 years earlier?

Telephone Television Movie Camera Automobiles

10. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration instituted the industry's first test mandating that all eyeglass lenses pass a minimum level of shatter-resistance to insure public eye safety. What was that test called?

Spectroscopy Crash Testing Drop Ball Test Thermoanalysis

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©1998 Optima Inc./ 9/30/04 / mail@optima-hyper.com