How did the Islamic world, which was once so advanced, lose its scientific and technological edge over Europe and the West?

One of the most under rated inventions in the history was the ability, first developed by the Italians around 1290, to grind clear glass into lenses. This created two marvellous inventions: telescopes and eyeglasses.

The role of telescopes in the Renaissance is well documented so I won’t repeat it here.

But eye glasses? That enabled scholars whose eyesight started to dim like most people in their 30s to keep working productive scholarly lives up into their 70s. And, spoiler alert, most of their great breakthroughs came later in life when they could compound and build up acquired knowledge. It led to the first universities. It led (indirectly) to the printing press. Knowledge multiplied knowledge. And the spark which started it all was eyeglasses. Those poor Islamic scholars didn’t know what hit them.

Sure, religious dogma played a role too (although it is not like the Catholic church sat by idly when they could declare Galileo and Copernicus heretics). But eyeglasses were the key.

So next time a bully tries to pick on a kid with glasses, just remind him that those glasses were what allowed Europe to become the dominant global power and to colonise the entire globe.