Abstract
THE contributions made to Lychnos during the last two years by Drs. N. V. E. Nordenmark and J. Nordstrom dealing with the invention of the achromatic lens and the part played by S. Klingenstierna, professor of mathematics at the University of Uppsala, in the process, have been issued as a pamphlet by Almquist and Wiksells, Uppsala, with an English summary. Many of the original documents bearing on the history of the invention are reproduced with illustrations. One of the most important is Ramsden's Royal Society paper of June 18, 1789, from which it appears that Chester Moor Hall had an achromatic object glass ground for him in 1732 or 1733 and that achromatic telescopes were made for him by the Strand optician J. Bird. The patent for the construction of such lenses from crown and flint glasses was taken out in 1758 by J. Dollond but no calculations were given, probably owing to the desire to keep the theory from other opticians. Klingenstierna worked Out the theory, published it in the Transactions of the Swedish Academy in July 1760 and sent a copy to the Royal Society, which published it, although Dollond stated that it contained nothing which he had not done himself previously.
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The Achromatic Lens. Nature 145, 344–345 (1940). https://doi.org/10.1038/145344d0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/145344d0