History of optics and window tint

The history of optics is, fittingly, clear
 
The history of window tint fittingly is not.

The Wikipedia article speaks little about the history of window tint, and mostly about the mechanics.
Most sources do agree that EZ Eye was the first window tint manufacturer by introducing tint to the 58 Chevy Impala. The understanding that window glass in automobiles magnifying sunlight and glare comes from an understanding of optics which starts as far back as ancient Egypt.

Assyrian lenses like the Layard/Nimrud lens were some of the earliest lenses.
Overtime, the subject of optics advanced, Euclid wrote a treatise entitled Optics in ancient Greece. Most of optical theory around this time was based on something called emission theory, which proposed that light and sight was based on light emitting from the eyes. During the early 1000s Alhazen wrote a book that would change the face of optics forever, rejecting the emission theory he suggested that light reflected in all directions and instead entered the eye.

Sadly, his work was not recognized in his time. His work was translated later and expanded upon at the start of the 1200s.
This book would become the textbook for optics in Europe for the next 400 years.

In the 1600’s Johannes Kepler would be the man who would discuss lenses and give the basis for the modern understanding of magnification, which would create the seeds required for the invention of window tint three and a half centuries later.

In our next article we will discuss how we got from Alhazen to Kepler.