You’ve probably seen the classic portrait. Benjamin Franklin sits there, looking all scholarly and wise with those weird, split-lens spectacles perched on his nose. Most of us were taught in elementary school that he simply got tired of swapping glasses and—poof—invented the bifocal lens.
It makes for a great story. It's clean. It's patriotic. But history is rarely that tidy.
If you're asking who invented the bifocal lens, the answer isn't a simple name you can check off a list. While Franklin is the guy we associate with them, there’s a whole mess of letters, angry rivalries, and 18th-century optical shops that suggest the "invention" was more of an evolution. Honestly, the more you dig into the archives of the 1700s, the more you realize that Franklin might have just been the first person to make them famous rather than the first person to actually grind the glass.
Why Franklin usually gets the credit
Franklin was getting old. By the 1780s, he was struggling with both presbyopia—that annoying age-related thing where you can't see close up—and myopia. He hated carrying two pairs of glasses. He describes this frustration vividly in a 1784 letter to his friend George Whatley. Franklin writes that he had his glasses cut in half and joined, so he could see distant objects through the top and close work through the bottom.
He called them his "double spectacles."
It was a practical move. He wanted to be able to look across the dinner table at his friends in France and then look down at his plate without fumbling with a second pair of frames. To Franklin, this wasn't some grand scientific breakthrough. It was just common sense. He was a tinkerer.
But here’s the thing.
Just because he wrote about them doesn't mean he was the first to think of it. There is evidence suggesting that London opticians were experimenting with split lenses at least twenty years before Franklin’s famous letter. Peter Dollond, a massive name in the history of optics, was reportedly selling something similar in the 1760s.
The case against Ben (Sorta)
There’s a guy named Charles Letig. He’s not a household name, but in the world of optical history, he’s a bit of a disruptor. Some researchers believe Letig or other English glass-grinders were the true pioneers.
In the late 18th century, the "split-lens" design was often referred to as "Franklin Glasses," but that might have been a marketing tactic. Think about it. If a famous statesman and scientist is walking around wearing a specific type of eyewear, every optician in London and Paris is going to start calling them "The Franklin Style."
It’s like the "Rachel" haircut from Friends. Jennifer Aniston didn't invent hair, but she sure as hell made that specific cut a global phenomenon.
The Dollond Connection
The Dollond family held patents on almost everything related to telescopes and spectacles back then. They were the tech giants of the 1700s. If they were making bifocals, they weren't necessarily bragging about it in the same way Franklin did in his personal correspondence. Franklin never patented his idea. He actually had a moral stance against it. He believed that as we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others, we should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of ours.
🔗 Read more: Median lethal dose LD50: Why this scary number is actually misunderstood
That’s a noble vibe, but it makes the paper trail for who invented the bifocal lens incredibly murky.
How the first bifocals actually worked
Forget the sleek, seamless "progressive" lenses you get at the optometrist today. These early versions were brutal.
They were literally two separate pieces of glass sliced horizontally.
- The top half was for distance.
- The bottom half was for reading.
- They were held together by the pressure of the metal frame.
If you bumped your head or dropped them, the lenses would just fall out or become misaligned. Imagine trying to read a book while the bottom half of your vision is jiggling around. It wasn't exactly a high-performance experience. Plus, there was a sharp, visible line right across the middle of the eye. It caused a massive "image jump" when the wearer looked down, which probably made people feel pretty dizzy until they got used to it.
The evolution of the lens
By the 1800s, people realized the split-lens thing was clumsy. In 1824, John Isaac Hawkins coined the term "bifocal." Before that, they were just called "double spectacles" or "divided glasses."
The real tech jump happened much later:
- Cemented Bifocals: In the late 1800s, opticians started using Canada balsam (a type of resin) to glue a small reading segment onto the main lens. It looked better, but the glue would eventually yellow or crack.
- Fused Bifocals: Around 1908, Dr. John Borscht figured out how to fuse a high-index glass segment into a pocket of a crown glass lens. This was the "Kryptok" lens.
- Progressive Lenses: We didn't get "no-line" bifocals until Bernard Maitenaz invented the Varilux lens in 1959.
It took almost 200 years to get from Franklin's jagged split-glass to the smooth transitions we have now.
Does it matter who was first?
Honestly, probably not as much as we think.
Whether it was an anonymous London craftsman or the guy on the $100 bill, the bifocal changed how humans age. Before this, hitting 45 or 50 meant you were basically sidelined from detailed work or easy reading unless you wanted to carry a magnifying glass everywhere. Franklin’s promotion of the design allowed people to stay productive.
He proved that your vision didn't have to dictate your lifestyle.
There is a letter from 1785 where Franklin's friend, Whatley, mentions that a certain Mr. Dollond said the spectacles were only for "particular eyes" and wouldn't become a general thing. Dollond was wrong. Franklin was right. Franklin saw the universal need for a solution to the "two-glasses problem."
💡 You might also like: The 3 way lunge exercise: Why your legs probably need more than just forward motion
Getting your own vision checked
If you’re feeling that "arm’s length" struggle when reading your phone, you're experiencing exactly what drove Franklin crazy in the 1780s.
You don't have to carry two pairs of glasses anymore, but you do need to understand your options. Modern bifocals aren't just for "old people." They're for anyone whose eyes have lost the flexibility to switch focus.
What you should do next:
- Schedule a comprehensive eye exam. Don't just guess your prescription with drugstore readers. You need to check for eye health issues like glaucoma or cataracts that bifocals won't fix.
- Ask about "Digital Wrap" or "Occupational" lenses. If you spend 8 hours a day staring at a computer, standard bifocals might actually hurt your neck. There are specific lenses designed for the distance between your face and a monitor.
- Give yourself two weeks. If you get bifocals or progressives, your brain needs time to "map" the new vision. You’ll feel a bit "sea-sick" at first. This is normal. Your brain is literally relearning how to process light.
- Check the fit. Because bifocals have a specific "sweet spot" for reading, if your frames slip down your nose, the prescription won't work. Get them professionally fitted and adjusted behind the ears.
The history of who invented the bifocal lens is a reminder that innovation is usually a team sport. Franklin may have been the face of the brand, but he was part of a larger movement of people trying to see the world a little more clearly.