The oldest written record of lenses is in the ancient Greek play by Aristophanes called "Clouds", where lenses were used with sunlight to make fire.
ð ɪ WORD_BOUNDARY oʊ l d ɪ s t WORD_BOUNDARY ɹ ɪ t ə n WORD_BOUNDARY ɹ ɛ k ə ɹ d WORD_BOUNDARY ʌ v WORD_BOUNDARY l ɛ n z ɪ z WORD_BOUNDARY ɪ z WORD_BOUNDARY ɪ n ð ɪ WORD_BOUNDARY eɪ n t̠ʃ ə n t WORD_BOUNDARY ɡ ɹ iː k WORD_BOUNDARY p l eɪ WORD_BOUNDARY b aɪ WORD_BOUNDARY æ ɹ ɪ s t ɑ f eɪ n z WORD_BOUNDARY k ɔ l d WORD_BOUNDARY k l aʊ d z WORD_BOUNDARY w ɛ ɹ WORD_BOUNDARY l ɛ n z ɪ z WORD_BOUNDARY w ɜː WORD_BOUNDARY j uː z d WORD_BOUNDARY w ɪ ð WORD_BOUNDARY s ʌ n l aɪ t WORD_BOUNDARY t ə WORD_BOUNDARY m eɪ k WORD_BOUNDARY f aɪ ə ɹ WORD_BOUNDARY