By itself, the new glasses will reach a billion poor people

Joshi, retired British professor. Silver invented an adjustable pair of glasses that the wearer adjusts, and has distributed about 30,000 pairs to the poor in 15 countries. Silver hopes the glasses will reach one billion of the world's poor by 2020.

Accidental inspiration

The British "Guardian" reported on the 22nd that Silver's invention was inspired by a chance conversation with a colleague in 1985 when he was a professor of physics at Oxford University.

When he was talking about optical lenses, he got the idea to see if he could adjust the lenses without using expensive specialized equipment. Once feasible, glasses made from such lenses can be adjusted to the right degree by the wearer; If cheap, the glasses could benefit people who can't afford them.

Silver, who is now retired, is not satisfied with the 30,000 pairs of glasses that have been distributed. He and his team plan to start distributing 1 million of them in India next year, and then 100 million a year to the poor. According to his research, it is estimated that more than half of the world's population needs vision correction.

At Silver's mobilisation, Oxford agreed to host the Vision Centre for the Developing World, which will work with scientists from the US, China and South Africa on World Bank-funded projects.

Simple invention