John Dollond

It’s the birthday of John Dollond, who was born in 1706 in London. Dollond became a silk weaver like his father, but his interests shifted to astronomy and physics. Using his scientific knowledge, Dollond became a maker of lenses and optical instruments. A single lens refracts light of different frequencies by different amounts. Dollond was the first to patent a method to correct that aberration by combining two lenses of different refractive indices. He was not the first to discover the method but, in the judgement of a court that ruled on challenges to his patent, he was the first to commercially exploit the method. In 1750 Dollond and his son Peter founded a shop to sell optical products. As Dollond & Aitchison, later D&A, the company expanded and remained in business until 2009, when it became part of Boots Opticians.

Date in History: 22 June 1706