Who is joseph von fraunhofer

Precise knowledge about this property of each type of glass made it possible to achieve consistent quality in the manufacture of raw glass, which in turn was used to make the best lenses of that time.

Around , Robert Wilhelm Bunsen and Gustav Kirchhof were developing spectral analysis and discovered how Fraunhofer lines come about. They realized that different chemical elements produced different colors of flame when burned, and that the dark lines appear when chemical elements absorb, or swallow up, light of a certain wavelength. As a result, the light is absent at that point in the color range and a dark line is visible in the spectrometer.

Looking at a sample of these lines, you can see which elements make up whatever matter the light has passed through. Since our understanding of space is based almost entirely on the analysis of light from celestial bodies, this discovery was a milestone in astronomy. We have now identified some 25, absorption lines in the solar spectrum. Fraunhofer lines became a fixed part of describing the physical world and have played a major role in the evolution of spectral analysis and astrophysics.

At the beginning of his career, there was little sign that Fraunhofer would achieve immense success. Born in , he lost both parents when twelve years of age. The masterglassmaker who took him on, however, Philipp Anton Weichselberger, did not allow the young Fraunhofer to attend school on vacation days or to read the books he so yearned to devour. It thus came to a turn of fate to impel Fraunhofer on his career.

He was allowed to attend school, received instruction in the craft of lens-grinding and was soon recommended to take up employ as an optician at the workshop of the renowned inventor and designer Georg von Reichenbach, in which Utzschneider was a partner. Reichenbach and Utzschneider thus appointed him - when only 22 years of age - head of the glass factory in Benediktbeuern, which belonged to the company.

His work on the development of new types of glass, decisive improvements in glass production, and perfectioning of the manufacture of optical instruments brought about impressive results. Its products included telescopes, binoculars, microscopes, magnifying glasses and extending astronomical telescopes in hitherto unparalleled quality.

These instruments he himself developed, moreover, proved themselves indispensable to his own pioneering scientific work. His spectrometer allowed him to investigate sunlight and other sources of light with extraordinary precision; the optical gratings he constructed made it possible to analyze the phenomenon of diffraction and describe its effects on the manufacture of optical instruments.

Fraunhofer achieved national and international fame and won many honors for his unmatched optical instruments and scientific accomplishments. Leading scientists and politicians of the time visited him at his place of work. As a result of his scientific renown, against initial resistance on the part of established scientists, Fraunhofer was elected a full member of the Academy of Sciences.

The King of Bavaria made him a Knight of the Order of Civilian Service, thus raising him in status to one of the nobility.

Joseph von Fraunhofer died of tuberculosis in , at the age of Fraunhofer is regarded as the founder of the scientific method in the sphere of optics and precision mechanics, as the first German exponent of precision optics, and at the same time as a successful entrepreneur.

After joining the Mathematical-Mechanical Institute with its glassworks in Benediktbeuern - the company owned by Reichenbach and Utzschneider - Fraunhofer concentrated his efforts first of all on improvements to the quality of glass. He taught at the University of Bavaria and was knighted in Von Fraunhofer may have achieved even greater heights if he had lived a longer life. However, the self made man contracted tuberculosis and died prematurely in Visit the Molecular Expressions Website.

Photo Gallery. Silicon Zoo. Chip Shots. Screen Savers. Web Resources. Java Microscopy. Win Wallpaper. Also, though he was a highly skilled craftsman, he was viewed by the scientific community as nothingmore than a technician. He was never truly accepted by the intelligentsia, and while he could attend scientific meetings he was never allowed to address them. He died of tuberculosis a few months before his 40th birthday. Toggle navigation. User Contributions:.

Comment about this article, ask questions, or add new information about this topic: Name:. E-mail: Show my email publicly. Human Verification:. Public Comment: characters. Send comment. Other articles you might like:. Wollaston in , who however, recorded the presence of only seven dark lines.

Well aware that some of these lines could be used as wavelength standards, Fraunhofer accurately measured the position of of the or so lines he could see in his solar spectrum. He labeled the most prominent spectral lines with letters, establishing a nomenclature that survives to this day.

Although he did notice and comment upon the wave length coincidence between his D line and a prominent line in laboratory flame spectrum now known to be due to Sodium , he did not pursue the matter much further. In Fraunhofer built the first diffraction grating, comprised of close parallel wires. Well versed in the mathematical wave theory of light, Fraunhofer used his diffraction grating to actually measure wavelength of specific colors and dark lines in the solar spectrum.