On a regular afternoon back in 2005, doctor of glass science Don McPherson stumbled upon a discovery that he would then use to change the lives of colorblind people around the world. He and a colorblind friend, Michael Angell, were outside playing ultimate frisbee when Michael asked Don if he could try on the sunglasses he was wearing. To Michael's surprise, the sunglasses actually allowed him to see something he wasn't able to before - he was suddenly able to differentiate between the orange hue of some nearby traffic cones and the green hue of the grass.
McPherson had originally engineered those glasses to be used by doctors performing laser surgery to protect their eyes. The lenses are embedded with rare earth iron that absorbs a lot of light, which not only serves as protection for their eyes, but also allows them to better differentiate between tissue and blood when performing surgery - because even those similar hues can be difficult to make a distinction between, even for non-colorblind people. Upon realizing how much of a difference the glasses made for his colorblind friend, McPherson gained a revolutionary insight - he could use this technology to help colorblind people everywhere.
McPherson's creative insight was accompanied by years of research, development, and trials. Eventually, in 2010, McPherson and Schmeder founded Enchroma, Inc., which develops glasses that enhance the vision of people suffering from color blindness. The technology works by designing the lenses so that they filter out specific colors - different receptors in our eyes are designed to respond to specific light waves and interpret them as colors, and color blindness occurs when those receptors overlap too much and are unable to distinguish between colors. The lenses are able to separate these overlapping receptors by filtering out sharp wavelengths of light. This allows mainly for those who have trouble seeing reds and greens to be able to do so, which to them makes a world of difference.
McPherson and Schmeder's Enchroma glasses are an excellent example of how a simple insight combined with passion and hard work can lead to a creative invention that can be used to help large populations of people. Even simple things like color can be life-changing to experience for the first time after going a lifetime without it - just watch this video and others like it and see for yourself how much of an impact this product makes on people!
Sources:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/scientist-accidentally-developed-sunglasses-that-could-correct-color-blindness-180954456/
http://enchroma.com/about-us/
I really like how your post provides a concrete example of how one person's insight can affect others. I agree that the ability to see color is something that most people take for granted. It is definitely not something that I think about often. This unique product emphasizes that creativity can benefit society, especially people suffering from colorblindness.
ReplyDeleteI think color in art and design is such an important part of culture and communication. People use colors to convey important information. Think about traffic signals, which can be incredibly difficult for people with color blindness to navigate. I think it's easy for people to forget how much we rely on colors to communicate, especially information about safety, like red, yellow, and green traffic signals, yellow caution signs and tape, etc. With this in mind, I think these glasses are remarkably beneficial for helping people with colorblindness remain physically safe.
ReplyDeleteThis showcases the beautiful aspects of creativity; when a creation is able to impact another's life in a way that is life altering. Being introduced to a whole new unimaginative vibrance of color elicits a whole different paradigm out of a person. When a person is introduced to something as new as this, a person can broaden their creativity as well. People who are colorblind, and are given the opportunity to see color, are able to have more resources to perceive creativity. This in turn adds to the individual's insight.
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