Joseph Petzval
JAN 06, 2015
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.030868
Today is the birthday of Joseph Petzval born in 1807 in what is now Slovakia. After training and working as an architectural engineer in Buda (now Budapest) he taught mathematics at the University of Vienna. He studied a wide range of topics and his interest in optics led him, shortly after the development of the Daguerrotype photographic process, to invent a portrait lens that is still in use in modern cameras. He also invented the first opera glasses and developed lens system calculations that helped in the perfection of telescopes and microscopes.
Date in History: 6 January 1807
© 2015. American Institute of Physics