Optics of contact Lenses

Historical Significance: Arthur Bennett(1912-1994) studied optometry at Northampton Polytechnic Institute 1932-5 before joining Willesdon Optical Company as a spectacle lens worker. By 1945 he had joined the technical staff of Stigmat Ltd, partly it seems due that company's intention to manufacture contact lenses, where he stayed until 1951. His interests included telescopic units for the partially sighted and aspheric lenses. He first became a part-time lecturer in 1937 and a full-time senior lecturer at City University in 1962. In 1947 he redesigned an offset zonal scleral contact lens and was the pioneer of British (BS) Standards on ophthalmic lenses. He wrote over 200 papers and seven books. With Ron Rabbetts he co-wrote the classic Clinical Visual Optics and, as an historian, edited the first English translation of Isaac Barrow's 17th century Lectiones Opticae in 1987.