Color blindness is a sad reality for millions of Americans. But a solution to this condition was discovered by accident during a Lab experiment in Berkeley, California, reported CBS affiliate 5KFIX.
Correcting color blindness wasn’t the focus of the experiment. The solution was discovered after designing a pair of sunglasses to be used as protective eyewear for doctors during surgery.
“This happened almost by mistake,” Don McPherson, EnChroma’s VP of products, told reporters.
McPherson said that he wore the glasses during a meeting with a curious friend, Marc Drucker, who happened to be color blind.
“My friend said, ‘Oh, those are cool. Can I borrow them?’,” McPherson recalled. When Docker put the glasses on his jaw dropped. A new world was revealed to him, where trees are green, flowers come in limitless colors, and a sunset can take your breath away.
According to the report, Drucker has a type of color blindness where the red and green cones on his eyes overlap, a genetic defect that left him seeing muted, dull colors for 45 years, until he found this sunglasses.
“I describe it like I’ve got a bit of a superpower now,” Drucker said.
After the accidental discovery, the Lab is now producing sunglasses for color blindness.
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