Home      Discussion      Topics      Dictionary      Almanac
Signup       Login
List of astronomical instrument makers

List of astronomical instrument makers

Discussion
Ask a question about 'List of astronomical instrument makers'
Start a new discussion about 'List of astronomical instrument makers'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum
 
Encyclopedia
The following is a list of astronomical instrument makers, along with lifespan and country of work, if available.

A

Name Lifespan Country of Work
Jabir ibn Aflah
Jabir ibn Aflah
Abu Muhammad Jabir ibn Aflah was an Arab Muslim astronomer, mathematician and inventor whose works, once translated into Latin , influenced later European mathematicians and astronomers...

 (Geber)
c. 1100-1150 Islamic Spain
Al-Andalus
Al-Andalus was the Arabic name given to the parts of the Iberian Peninsula and Septimania governed by Arab and North African Muslims , at various times in the period between 711 and 1492....

Al-Ashraf flourished 1282-1296 Yemen
Yemen
Yemen , officially the Republic of Yemen is a country located on the Arabian Peninsula in Southwest Asia...


B

Name Lifespan Country of Work
James Gilbert Baker
James Gilbert Baker
James Gilbert Baker was an American astronomer and optician.-Biography:He was born in Louisville, Kentucky to Jesse B. Baker and Hattie M. Stallard, the fourth child of that couple. He attended Louisville duPont Manual High School then majored in mathematics at the University of Louisville...

1914–2005 USA
circa 1235 Persia
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran is a country in Western Asia. The name Iran has been in use natively since the Sassanid period and came into international use from 1935, before which the country was known internationally as Persia...

George Bass
George Bass (optician)
George Bass was an optician known to have made an achromatic doublet around 1733.The instructions for the constructions were given by Chester Moore Hall. According to Hoyle, Hall wished to keep his work on the achromatic lenses a secret and contracted the manufacture of the crown and flint lenses...

early 18th century
18th century
The 18th century lasted from 1701 to 1800 in the Gregorian calendar, in accordance with the Anno Domini/Common Era numbering system.However, Western historians sometimes specifically define the 18th century otherwise for the purposes of their work...

England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī 973
973
-Europe:* Edgar of England is crowned king by Saint Dunstan.* Otto II becomes Holy Roman Emperor and King of Germany.-Religion:* January 19—Pope Benedict VI succeeds Pope John XIII as the 134th pope.-Births:* September 15—Al-Biruni, mathematician...

-1048
Persia
History of Iran
History of Iran has been intertwined to the history of a larger historical region, Greater Iran, which consists of the area from the Euphrates in the west to the Indus River and Jaxartes in the east and from the Caucasus, Caspian Sea, and Aral Sea in the north to the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of...

Tycho Brahe
Tycho Brahe
Tycho Brahe, born Tyge Ottesen Brahe , was a Danish nobleman known for his accurate and comprehensive astronomical and planetary observations...

1546-1601 Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe and the senior member of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries; southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and it is bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark borders both the Baltic and the North Sea...

John Brashear
John Brashear
Dr. John Alfred Brashear was an American astronomer and instrument builder.- Life and work :Brashear was born in Brownsville, Pennsylvania, a town 35 miles south of Pittsburgh along the Monongahela River. His father, Basil Brown Brashear, was a saddler, and his mother, Julia Smith Brashear, was a...

1840–1920 USA

C

Name Lifespan Country of Work
Giuseppe Campani
Giuseppe Campani
Giuseppe Campani was an Italian optician and astronomer who lived in Rome during the latter half of the 17th century.His brother, Matteo Campani-Alimenis, and he were experts in grinding and polishing lenses, especially for very long focal length aerial telescope objectives...

1635-1715 Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...

Matteo Campani-Alimenis
Matteo Campani-Alimenis
Matteo or Mathieu Campani-Alimenis was a mechanician and natural philosopher of the 17th century.He held a curacy at Rome in 1661, but devoted himself principally to scientific pursuits...

17th Century
17th century
The 17th Century was that century which lasted from 1601 to 1700 in the Gregorian calendar.The 17th Century falls into the Early Modern period of Europe and was characterized by the Baroque cultural movement, the French Grand Siècle dominated by Louis XIV, and the beginning of modern science and...

Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...

Henri Chrétien
Henri Chrétien
Henri Jacques Chrétien was a French astronomer and an inventor.Born in Paris, France, his most famous invention is the anamorphic widescreen process, that resulted in the CinemaScope, and the co-invention of the Ritchey-Chrétien telescope , which was an advanced type of astronomical telescope,...

1879-1956 France
France
France , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...

Alvan Clark
Alvan Clark
Alvan Clark , born in Ashfield, Massachusetts, the descendant of a Cape Cod whaling family of English ancestry, was an American astronomer and telescope maker. He was a portrait painter and engraver, but at the age of 40 become involved in telescope making...

1804–1887 USA
Alvan Graham Clark
Alvan Graham Clark
Alvan Graham Clark , born in Fall River, Massachusetts, was an American astronomer and telescope-maker. He was the son of Alvan Clark, founder of Alvan Clark & Sons....

1832-1897 USA
George Bassett Clark
George Bassett Clark
George Bassett Clark was an American instrument maker & astronomer.Born in Lowell, Massachusetts and educated at Phillips Academy, Andover, he was the son of Alvan Clark, part of a family of refracting telescope makers in the 19th century...

1827-1891 USA
Thomas Cooke
Thomas Cooke
This page is about the instrument maker. For other persons named Thomas Cooke, see Thomas CookeThomas Cooke was a British instrument maker based on York. He founded T. Cooke & Sons, the instrument company-Life:...

1807–1868 England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

Robert E. Cox
Robert E. Cox
Robert Edward Cox was an American optical engineer and a popularizer of amateur telescope making. He conducted the popular "Gleanings for ATMs" column in Sky and Telescope magazine for 21 years....

1917–1989 USA

D

Name Lifespan Country of Work
John Henry Dallmeyer
John Henry Dallmeyer
John Henry Dallmeyer , Anglo-German optician, was born at Loxten, Westphalia, the son of a landowner.On leaving school at the age of sixteen he was apprenticed to an Osnabruck optician, and in 1851 he came to London, where he obtained work with an optician, W Hewitt, who shortly afterwards, with...

1830-1883 England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 / Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...

Taqi al-Din
Taqi al-Din
Taqi al-Din Muhammad ibn Ma'ruf al-Shami al-Asadi was a major Ottoman Turkish or Arab Muslim polymath: a scientist, astronomer and astrologer, engineer and inventor, clockmaker, physicist and mathematician, botanist and zoologist, pharmacist and physician, Islamic judge and mosque timekeeper,...

1526–1585 Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south and Israel to the southwest....

 / Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia...

 / Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in Western Asia and Thrace in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe...

John Dobson
John Dobson (astronomer)
John Lowry Dobson is a highly influential amateur astronomer. He is well known in astronomy circles because his name is attached to the popular Dobsonian telescope design. He is credited for inventing the design, which is used by a large number of amateur astronomers. He is less known for his...

born 1915 USA
John Dollond
John Dollond
John Dollond was an English optician, known for his successful optics business and his discovery of achromatic doublets.-Biography:...

1706-1761 England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

Henry Draper
Henry Draper
Henry Draper was an American doctor and astronomer. He is best known today as a pioneer of astrophotography.- Life and work :...

1837-1882 USA

E

Name Lifespan Country of Work

F

Name Lifespan Country of Work
Henry Fitz
Henry Fitz
-Early life:Fitz was born in 1808 in Newburyport, Massachusetts. The family moved to Albany, New York, some eleven years later and to New York City later on. Fitz as a boy was already very interested in science and mechanics. He initially learned the printing trade from his father. They printed the...

1808-1863 USA

G

Name Lifespan Country of Work
Vilem Gajdusek
Vilem Gajdusek
Vilém Gajdušek was Czech optician and prominent telescope designer....

1895-1977 Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a country in Central Europe that is sometimes considered to be Eastern European. The country borders Poland to the northeast, Germany to the west and northwest, Austria to the south and Slovakia to the east. The capital and largest city is Prague...

Galileo Galilei
Galileo Galilei
Galileo Galilei was an Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher who played a major role in the Scientific Revolution. His achievements include improvements to the telescope and consequent astronomical observations, and support for Copernicanism...

1564–1642 Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...

James Gregory
James Gregory (astronomer and mathematician)
James Gregory , was a Scottish mathematician and astronomer. It has been said that "Of the British mathematicians of the seventeenth century, Gregory was only excelled by Newton."- Biography :...

1638–1675 Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

Howard Grubb
Howard Grubb
Sir Howard Grubb FRS was a designer and maker of telescopes from Dublin, Ireland.- Life and work :He was one of eight children of Thomas, founder of the Grubb Telescope Company so Howard developed an early interest in optics. After training to be a civil engineer, Howard joined his father's firm...

1844-1931 Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islets. To the east of Ireland, separated by the Irish Sea, is the island of Great Britain...


H

Name Lifespan Country of Work
Frederick James Hargreaves
Frederick James Hargreaves
Frederick James Hargreaves was a British astronomer and optician.He was considered the foremost optician in Britain, and was noted for his skill in mirror making and other optics for astronomical telescopes...

1891–1970 England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

William Herschel
William Herschel
Sir Frederick William Herschel, KH, FRS, German: Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel, was a German-born English astronomer, technical expert and composer who became famous for discovering Uranus...

1738–1822 England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

Henry Hindley
Henry Hindley
Henry Hindley was an 18th century clockmaker and maker of scientific instruments. He was the inventor of a screw-cutting lathe. He built a clock for York Minster, England, where he apparently lived for much of his life, in 1752....

1701–1771 England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

Robert Hooke
Robert Hooke
Robert Hooke, FRS was an English natural philosopher, architect and polymath who played an important role in the scientific revolution, through both experimental and theoretical work....

1635–1703 England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

Christiaan Huygens
Christiaan Huygens
Christiaan Huygens, FRS was a prominent Dutch mathematician, astronomer, physicist, horologist, and writer of early science fiction...

1629–1695 Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a country in Northwestern Europe, constituting the major portion of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east...


I

Name Lifespan Country of Work
Albert Graham Ingalls
Albert Graham Ingalls
Albert Graham Ingalls was an American scientific editor and amateur astronomer. Through his columns in Scientific American, including "The Amateur Scientist", and his three-volume series Amateur Telescope Making, Ingalls exerted a great influence on amateur astronomy and amateur telescope making...

1888-1958 United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

Zenbei Iwahashi 1756-1811 Japan
Japan
is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...


J

Name Lifespan Country of Work
Zacharias Janssen
Zacharias Janssen
Sacharias Jansen was a Dutch spectacle-maker from Middelburg credited with inventing, or contributing advances towards the invention of the first telescope. Jansen is sometimes credited for inventing the first truly compound microscope...

c.1580-c.1638 Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a country in Northwestern Europe, constituting the major portion of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east...

Al-Jazari
Al-Jazari
Abū al-'Iz Ibn Ismā'īl ibn al-Razāz al-Jazarī was a prominent Arab polymath: an Islamic scholar, inventor, mechanical engineer, craftsman, artist, mathematician and astronomer from Al-Jazira, Iraq, who lived during the Islamic Golden Age...

1136-1206 Iraq
Iraq
Iraq , officially the Republic of Iraq , also known as Mesopotamia, is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert.Iraq shares borders with Jordan to the west, Syria...

 / Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south and Israel to the southwest....


K

Name Lifespan Country of Work
Jamshīd al-Kāshī
Jamshid al-Kashi
' was a Persian astronomer and mathematician.-Biography:...

c. 1380-1429 Persia
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran is a country in Western Asia. The name Iran has been in use natively since the Sassanid period and came into international use from 1935, before which the country was known internationally as Persia...

Al-Khazini
Al-Khazini
Abd al-Rahman al-Khazini was a scientist, astronomer, physicist, biologist, alchemist, mathematician and philosopher from Merv, then in the Khorasan province of Persia but now in Turkmenistan, who made important contributions to physics and astronomy. He is considered the greatest scholar from...

flourished 1115-1130 Persia
History of Iran
History of Iran has been intertwined to the history of a larger historical region, Greater Iran, which consists of the area from the Euphrates in the west to the Indus River and Jaxartes in the east and from the Caucasus, Caspian Sea, and Aral Sea in the north to the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of...

Abu-Mahmud al-Khujandi c. 940
940
-Asia:* Saadia Gaon compiles his siddur in Iraq.* Narita-san Temple is founded in Chiba, Japan.* The Liao Dynasty abolishes the requirement that a younger sister replace an older sister who died in marriage.-Births:...

-1000
Persia
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran is a country in Western Asia. The name Iran has been in use natively since the Sassanid period and came into international use from 1935, before which the country was known internationally as Persia...

Muhammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī
Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi
' was a Persian mathematician, astronomer and geographer, a scholar in the House of Wisdom in Baghdad.His Kitab al-Jabr wa-l-Muqabala presented the first systematic solution of linear and quadratic equations. He is considered the founder of algebra, a credit he shares with Diophantus...

 (Algoritmi)
780
780
- Byzantine Empire :* Constantine VI becomes Byzantine Emperor with Irene as guardian.- Asia :* Tang Dezong becomes emperor of China.* Borobudur, a Buddhist temple complex, is begun .* The king of Silla is killed in a revolt.- Europe :...

-850
850
-Asia:* Emperor Montoku succeeds Emperor Nimmyō as Emperor of Japan.-Europe:* Louis II is crowned co-emperor with his father Lothair I.* First recorded Viking attack on the Welsh coast....

Iraq
Iraq
Iraq , officially the Republic of Iraq , also known as Mesopotamia, is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert.Iraq shares borders with Jordan to the west, Syria...

Gottfried Kirch
Gottfried Kirch
Gottfried Kirch was a German astronomer. The son of a shoemaker in Guben, Electorate of Saxony, Kirch first worked as a calendar-maker in Saxonia and Franconia. He began to learn astronomy in Jena, and studied under Hevelius in Danzig...

1639—1710 Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...


L

Name Lifespan Country of Work
Hans Lippershey
Hans Lippershey
Hans Lippershey , also known as Johann Lippershey or Lipperhey, was a German-Dutch lensmaker, generally credited as being the inventor of the telescope....

1570-1619 Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a country in Northwestern Europe, constituting the major portion of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east...

Lala Balhumal Lahuri c. 1842 India
History of India
The known history of India - the name in this context includes the areas now known as India, Pakistan and Bangladesh - begins with the Indus Valley Civilization, which spread and flourished in the north-western part of the Indian subcontinent, from c. 3300 to 1300 BCE. Its Mature Harappan period...

Ali Kashmiri ibn Luqman
Islamic astronomy
In the history of astronomy, Islamic astronomy or Arabic astronomy refers to the astronomical developments made in the Islamic world, particularly during the Islamic Golden Age , and mostly written in the Arabic language. These developments mostly took place in the Middle East, Central Asia,...

flourished 1589-1590 Mughal India
Mughal Empire
The Mughal Empire was an Islamic and Persianate imperial power of the Indian subcontinent which began in 1526, invaded and ruled most of Hindustan by the late 17th and early 18th centuries, and ended in the mid-19th century...


M

Name Lifespan Country of Work
Dmitri Maksutov
Dmitri Dmitrievich Maksutov
Dmitri Dmitrievich Maksutov was a Soviet/Russian optician and astronomer. He is best known as the inventor of the Maksutov telescope.-Biography:...

1896-1964 Russia
Russia
Russia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

 / Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...

Jacob Metius
Jacob Metius
Jacob Metius , was a Dutch instrument-maker and optician. He was born in Alkmaar and was the brother of Adriaan Adriaanszoon . A specialist in grinding lenses, he claimed to have invented the telescope...

c.1575-1628 Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a country in Northwestern Europe, constituting the major portion of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east...


N

Name Lifespan Country of Work
Isaac Newton
Isaac Newton
Sir Isaac Newton FRS was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist, and theologian who is perceived and considered by a substantial number of scholars and the general public as one of the most influential men in history...

1643–1727 UK

O

Name Lifespan Country of Work

P

Name Lifespan Country of Work
William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse
William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse
William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse KP built several telescopes including the world's largest telescope in 1845 and it remained the world's largest for the rest of the century. Using this telescope he saw and cataloged a large number of galaxies...

1800–1867 Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islets. To the east of Ireland, separated by the Irish Sea, is the island of Great Britain...

Francis Gladheim Pease
Francis Gladheim Pease
Francis Gladheim Pease was an American astronomer.He joined the Yerkes Observatory in Wisconsin, where he was an observer and an optician. There he assisted George W. Ritchey who built many of America's first large reflecting telescopes. In 1908 he became an astronomer and instrument maker at the...

1881–1938 USA
Richard Scott Perkin
Richard Scott Perkin
Richard "Dick" Scott Perkin was an American entrepreneur.At an early age he developed an interest in astronomy, and began making telescopes and grinding lenses and mirrors. He only spent a year in college studying chemical engineering before he began working at a brokerage firm on Wall...

1906–1969 USA
John M. Pierce
John M. Pierce
John M. Pierce was an American teacher and amateur astronomer.Pierce worked with Russell W. Porter to organize Stellafane, the observatory near Springfield, Vermont where telescope makers still meet annually for the Stellafane convention...

1886–1958 USA

Q

Name Lifespan Country of Work

R

Name Lifespan Country of Work
Georg Friedrich von Reichenbach
Georg Friedrich von Reichenbach
Georg Friedrich von Reichenbach , German scientific instrument maker, was born at Durlach in Baden on August 24 1772.-Early life:...

1772-1826 Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...

George Willis Ritchey
George Willis Ritchey
George Willis Ritchey was an American optician and telescope maker and astronomer born at Tuppers Plains, Ohio.Ritchey was educated as a furniture maker...

1864-1945 USA

S

Name Lifespan Country of Work
George N. Saegmuller
George N. Saegmuller
George N. Saegmuller was a German-born American inventor of many astronomical instruments and other mechanical devices.He attended technical schools in Erlangen and Nuremberg. In 1870 he moved to the United States, where he settled in Washington, DC and began working for a craftsman involved in...

1847-1934 USA
Ibn Samh c. 1020 Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that spans southwestern Asia, southeastern Europe, and northeastern Africa. It has no clear boundaries, often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East...

Bernhard Schmidt
Bernhard Schmidt
Bernhard Woldemar Schmidt was an Swedish-Estonian optician who spent his adult life in Germany. In 1930 he invented the Schmidt telescope which corrected for the optical errors of spherical aberration, coma, and astigmatism, making possible for the first time the construction of very large,...

1879–1935 Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...

Ibn al-Shatir
Ibn al-Shatir
Ala Al-Din Abu'l-Hasan Ali Ibn Ibrahim Ibn al-Shatir was an Arab Muslim astronomer, mathematician, engineer and inventor who worked as muwaqqit at the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, Syria.-Astronomy:...

1304-1375 Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south and Israel to the southwest....

James Short
James Short
James Short was a British mathematician, optician and telescope maker.Born at Edinburgh in 1710 and originally educated for the church at the Royal High School, Short attracted the attention of Maclaurin, professor of mathematics at the university, who around 1732 gave him permission to use his...

1710–1768 England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

James Simms
James Simms
James Simms was a British instrument maker.He succeeded his father William Simms at the instrument making firm Troughton & Simms...

1828–1915 England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

William Simms 1793–1860 England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

903
903
-Asia:* Abaoji is named commander of all Khitan military forces.-Religion:* July/August—Leo V succeeds Benedict IV as the 118th pope....

-986
986
-Europe:* March 2—Louis V becomes King of the Franks.* Sweyn Forkbeard becomes King of Denmark* Håkon Sigurdsson of Norway defeats the Danish invasion force at Hjørungavåg-Asia:* Emperor Ichijō succeeds Emperor Kazan on the throne of Japan....

Persia
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran is a country in Western Asia. The name Iran has been in use natively since the Sassanid period and came into international use from 1935, before which the country was known internationally as Persia...


T

Name Lifespan Country of Work
Salih Tahtawi flourished 1659-1660 Mughal India
Mughal Empire
The Mughal Empire was an Islamic and Persianate imperial power of the Indian subcontinent which began in 1526, invaded and ruled most of Hindustan by the late 17th and early 18th centuries, and ended in the mid-19th century...

Edward Troughton
Edward Troughton
Edward Troughton was a British instrument maker born in Corney, Cumberland who was notable for making telescopes and other astronomical instruments....

1753-1835 England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

Sharaf al-Dīn al-Tūsī 1135-1213 Iraq
Iraq
Iraq , officially the Republic of Iraq , also known as Mesopotamia, is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert.Iraq shares borders with Jordan to the west, Syria...


U

Name Lifespan Country of Work

V

Name Lifespan Country of Work
Cornelius Varley
Cornelius Varley
Cornelius Varley was an English water-colour painter.A younger brother of John Varley, he was born in Hackney, London. He was educated by his uncle, a scientific instrument maker, and under him acquired a knowledge of the natural sciences. Around 1800, he joined his brother in a tour through...

1781–1873 England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

Yrjö Väisälä
Yrjö Väisälä
Yrjö Väisälä was a Finnish astronomer and physicist.His main contributions were in the field of optics, but he was also very active in geodetics, astronomy and optical metrology...

1891-1971 Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland
, is a Nordic country and democracy situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. It borders Sweden on the west, Russia on the east, and Norway on the north, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland...


W

Name Lifespan Country of Work

X

Name Lifespan Country of Work

Y

Name Lifespan Country of Work
Ibn Yunus
Ibn Yunus
Ibn Yunus was an important Egyptian Muslim astronomer and mathematician, whose works are noted for being ahead of their time, having been based on almost modern-like meticulous calculations and attention to detail.The crater Ibn Yunus on the Moon is named...

c. 950
950
-Europe:* Duke Boleslav I of Bohemia makes peace with Otto I.* Page with Joshua Leading the Israelites, from the Joshua Roll, is made in Constantinople. It is now kept at Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Rome .-Asia:...

-1009
Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia...


Z

Name Lifespan Country of Work
Abraham Zacuto
Abraham Zacuto
Abraham Zacuto was a Sephardi Jew astronomer, astrologer, mathematician and historian who served as Royal Astronomer in the 15th century to King John II of Portugal...

c. 1450-1510 Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by Spain to the north and east...

Abū Ishāq Ibrāhīm al-Zarqālī (Arzachel) 1028–1087 Islamic Spain
Al-Andalus
Al-Andalus was the Arabic name given to the parts of the Iberian Peninsula and Septimania governed by Arab and North African Muslims , at various times in the period between 711 and 1492....


See also