Roger at LensRentals.com has written another in depth and entertaining article about something you (nor he) didn't know you cared about.
Glass!
A Clear History of Glass by Roger Cicala
I've written about glass, as in lenses, for years now. But I've never looked into the history of glass as just a substance, because, well, who cared? When I accidentally did some reading about early glass, though, I was rather amazed at just how important it was. So I thought I'd write about the history of glass from around the beginning of time, up until when we started using it to make awesome lenses.
A strong argument can be made that the most important advances humanity ever made are fire, stone tools, the wheel, metalworking, the domestication of animals, and glass production. I know what you're thinking and I agree; the wheel isn't as important as the other 5. If you're interested, read along and I'll show you why making glass, drinking wine, and having bad vision are the three pillars that led to the development of science and Western civilization. Even if you don't think you're interested, read along. Glass is actually way more awesome than you think. Read the full article
It's a good read.