Joseph von Fraunhofer

[entropia]

Last night on Cosmos, NDT was talking about light. And with light came the spectrometer and the story of Joseph von Fraunhofer. It is really interesting specially because it shows how a person, even with a bad start in life, can overcome hardship and make a significant contribution to humanity. 

http://nautil.us/issue/11/light/the-glassmaker-who-sparked-astrophysics

[Merlin66]

The book "Spectrum of belief - Joseph von Fraunhofer and the craft of precision optics" by Myles W Jackson, provides a lot of detail on Fraunhofer's life and the relationships in the tangled European world of early precision glass making.

A very thought provoking read.

[entropia]

The book "Spectrum of belief - Joseph von Fraunhofer and the craft of precision optics" by Myles W Jackson, provides a lot of detail on Fraunhofer's life and the relationships in the tangled European world of early precision glass making.

A very thought provoking read.

Thanks, I will see if I can find it in the library. Too bad he took his secrets to the tomb, maybe field of optics would be far more advanced.