Choosing a suitable pair of odd socks for today's Royal Society for the Blind annual fund-raising day should be easier thanks to work by CSIRO mathematician, Dr Tony Miller.

Dr Miller's pioneering work on spectacle lens design tools has helped Sola International deliver improved vision and comfort to hundreds of thousands of Australian spectacle wearers.

Dr Miller used a novel mathematical method to analyse the curved surface of a lens and develop design tools which helped to find the best possible lens shape for the desired purpose.

Dr Miller was awarded the Sir Ian McLennan Achievement for Industry Award in 2000 for his research into the design of progressive lenses. His work has been applied by world-leading spectacle lens company, Sola International.

Mr Dugald Rose, Sola International's lens design manager, says that Dr Miller has worked closely with the company for the past 14 years as it has developed into a major global player.

"Dr Miller has developed software tools for designing spectacle lenses which have helped Sola International design innovative new lenses and remain at the forefront of the ophthalmic lens industry," says Mr Rose.

"He has played a major part in the development of progressive lenses, providing us with the tools to produce a lens that gives wearers clear, continuous, near and distance vision, without the line found in bifocals."

"With these tools, Sola are able to design progressive lenses with clear vision over a greater part of the visual field. They provide better vision, are more comfortable to wear and also look better," says Dr Miller.

Progressive lenses are worn by people with presbyopia which is a gradual, age-related loss of the ability to see clearly at short distances.

The lenses have improved the quality of life for spectacle-wearers around the world. It is estimated that more than 100 million people now have Sola International products mounted in their spectacle frames. Sola International sells more than $1 billion worth of lenses around the world each year.

In Australia, Sola, which originated in Adelaide in 1960, enjoys more than 50 per cent market share of a market valued at more than $120 million. This means at least one in every two glasses-wearing Australians are sporting Sola International lenses.

Mr Rose said the design tools developed by Dr Miller have been used in the design of many of the lenses produced by Sola International, including the latest Solamax and Spazio designs.

Solamax lenses offer improved vision for near work, offering a much larger reading area than previous progressive designs.

"Sola's Adelaide manufacturing facility has produced more than 500 000 pairs of Solamax since the product's launch. These lenses are now being worn by people all over the world," says Mr Rose.

Dr Miller has also been involved in the development of Spazio - prescription lenses for wrap-around sunglasses, which have achieved significant sales in Europe.

"We are continually developing our expertise in the design of innovative progressive lenses and Dr Tony Miller will continue to be an important contributor to this process," says Mr Rose.