Benjamin Franklin is generally credited with inventing bifocal spectacles in the 1780s.

Quick Scoop

  • The short answer to “who invented the bifocal spectacles?” is: Benjamin Franklin, the American statesman, scientist, and inventor.
  • He devised them so he would not have to constantly switch between separate pairs of glasses for near and distance vision.
  • Franklin called his early design “double spectacles”; the word “bifocals” was coined later in the 19th century.

A Tiny Backstory

As Franklin aged, his eyesight deteriorated, leaving him both near‑sighted and far‑sighted.

Tired of swapping glasses, he had lenses from two different pairs cut in half and combined into one frame, distance segment on top and reading segment below.

By simply looking up or down, he could see clearly at different ranges without changing spectacles, a very practical innovation for his diplomatic and writing work.

A Note on Credit and Dates

Historical letters, including one from Franklin to his friend George Whatley dated May 23, 1785, describe and sketch his “double spectacles,” strongly supporting his role as inventor.

Most modern historians thus credit Franklin as the inventor of bifocal eyeglasses, even though some suggest others may have experimented with similar ideas earlier.

The specific term “bifocals” was introduced later (in the 1820s), but it is now universally associated with Franklin’s original design.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.