The Pilot Injury That Inspired Contacts

In 1940 a WW II British Pilot, Squadron Leader Gordon Neil Spencer Cleaver's

plane was shot and plastic shards from the windshield tore into his eyes. Now,

at the hospital, the surgeon, Harold Ridley noticed something strange. You see,

injuries like these usually cause swelling as your body tries to get rid of the foreign objects,

but the plastic pieces didn't activate his immune system, meaning they could stay in his body

for a long time without any harm. Now, he figured if he could put this kind

of plastic in someone's eyes, he could replace their damaged lens, curing their blindness.

And he eventually invented the first permanent contacts. Now millions of people can see again,