It is difficult to estimate the exact year basic magnifying glasses, let alone magnifying glasses with light, were invented. People in the Renaissance era had been remarking for centuries about how certain crystals had the ability to make things appear larger if you look at them through the crystals. These crystals are known today as obsidian.
Amazingly, what is thought to be the first magnifying lens in history is the Nimrud lens, a 3 thousand year old artifact. Archeologists and historians attribute this artifact to ancient Assyria, and many highly acclaimed professionals have said that it could very well had been used by the Assyrians to magnify objects. Some believe, though it being somewhat of a more far-fetched idea, that the artifact’s purpose was to start fires, resembling what is called a burning-glass. The lens would ideally concentrate rays of sunlight, and set fire to whatever flammable material the concentrated beam was pointing to.
Many ancient writings can help us get a better idea of when magnifying glasses with light came about. One of the earliest indications of glass used as a magnification device is in 8th century BC, a period in which ancient hieroglyphs mentioned using simple glass lenses.
Some of the oldest evidence we can find of a magnifying glass being used to produce a magnified image of something was produced in year 1021. This is the year Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) wrote and published the Book of Optics. In the 13th century, the book had been translated into the Latin language, and a man by the name of Roger Bacon got his hands on the transcription. Bacon, an English man, would go on to publish the description of a contemporary magnifying glass. It wouldn’t be long until the first pair of eyeglasses, or spectacles, were invented in Italy in the 13th century.
In the proceeding years, the world would see a countless number of inventions in the optics industry. After the spectacles came the light microscope, it’s origins long attributed to Zaccharias and Hans Jannsen in 1590, and Galileo in 1609.
Two German men by the names of Max Knoll and Ernst Ruska invented the electron microscope in the 1930’s. This invention effectively made the light microscope obsolete, leading to where we stand today.
What we now know today as magnifying glasses, and even magnifying glasses with light, are also quite primitive when compared to the technicality of the electron microscope, and even the light microscope. However, it that does not detract from its practical uses in your every day lives.
Magnifying glasses with light are simply magnifying glasses with lights attached/installed onto them. The magnifying glasses you see today are typically made with double-convex lenses that are convex on both sides. Add a handle and a few LED lights, and you have yourself a basic magnifying glass with light.