EP62: The Origins of SOLA and the CR-39 Revolution with Rod Watkins

Rod, welcome to the show.

Really glad to have you on today.

Thanks for

having

me.

And for those that are listening, just for a bit of context, Rod, I grew up in this industry hearing the name Solar, never in a commercial capacity.

I've just always had it around and I've always been intrigued by the name.

And I guess I have a bit of a confession to make in that regard, and that is for years I actually assumed Solar was an American company.

And when I started digging, I learned that it was indeed an Australian company at its foundation.

And it was obviously born inside an optometrist practice in Adelaide.

And that, for me, is the essence of this show.

I mean, a lot of what I guess I like to highlight is the kind of creativity that I've started to understand myself.

about solar in its early days.

And that's exactly what independence forges.

And a lot of the things that I speak about in around that independent space and that entrepreneurialism and getting people out there, starting their practices and an essence of that nature.

So I guess if I say it up front, it's a real privilege to be able to speak to somebody like you that's lived that story inside.

That's done it from a period of time that I think we neglect, perhaps.

And to look back at that time and to sort of see what happened and how it happened in those early days is really exciting for me.

And it's an episode that I'm really looking forward to recording and really excited to capture it, I guess.

Before we get into Sola, though, tell us a bit about yourself.

Well, I can

tell you how I got to be at Solder, I suppose.

I started optometry in the first cohort of the University of Melbourne program in 1961, and I suppose the most interesting thing about that period for optometrists today is actually the student numbers because in fact all four years of optometry started at that time because the people who'd been enrolled in the existing program in the Victorian College of Optometry transferred straight into second, third and fourth year.

So the point here is that in the four years of the optometry program at that time there were a total of 20 students, 20 students in all four years, which is a bit of a contrast to the way that, and of course, there were three schools rather than seven.

So a bit different to today.

Rod, welcome to the show.

Really glad to have you on today.

Thanks for

having

me.

And for those that are listening, just for a bit of context, Rod, I grew up in this industry hearing the name Solar, never in a commercial capacity.

I've just always had it around and I've always been intrigued by the name.

And I guess I have a bit of a confession to make in that regard, and that is for years I actually assumed Solar was an American company.

And when I started digging, I learned that it was indeed an Australian company at its foundation.

And it was obviously born inside an optometrist practice in Adelaide.

And that, for me, is the essence of this show.

I mean, a lot of what I guess I like to highlight is the kind of creativity that I've started to understand myself.

about solar in its early days.

And that's exactly what independence forges.

And a lot of the things that I speak about in around that independent space and that entrepreneurialism and getting people out there, starting their practices and an essence of that nature.

So I guess if I say it up front, it's a real privilege to be able to speak to somebody like you that's lived that story inside.

That's done it from a period of time that I think we neglect, perhaps.

And to look back at that time and to sort of see what happened and how it happened in those early days is really exciting for me.

And it's an episode that I'm really looking forward to recording and really excited to capture it, I guess.

Before we get into Sola, though, tell us a bit about yourself.

Well, I can

tell you how I got to be at Solder, I suppose.

I started optometry in the first cohort of the University of Melbourne program in 1961, and I suppose the most interesting thing about that period for optometrists today is actually the student numbers because in fact all four years of optometry started at that time because the people who'd been enrolled in the existing program in the Victorian College of Optometry transferred straight into second, third and fourth year.

So the point here is that in the four years of the optometry program at that time there were a total of 20 students, 20 students in all four years, which is a bit of a contrast to the way that, and of course, there were three schools rather than seven.

So a bit different to today.