George Dollond (10 June 1774 – 30 November 1852) was an English optician who constructed precision

optical instrument An optical instrument (or "optic" for short) is a device that processes light waves (or photons), either to enhance an image for viewing or to analyze and determine their characteristic properties. Common examples include periscopes, microscopes ...

s used in

astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies astronomical object, celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and chronology of the Universe, evolution. Objects of interest ...

geodesy Geodesy ( ) is the Earth science of accurately measuring and understanding Earth's figure (geometric shape and size), orientation in space, and gravity. The field also incorporates studies of how these properties change over time and equivale ...

and also in navigation. Together with Peter Barlow, he also invented an

afocal system In optics an afocal system (a system without focus) is an optical system that produces no net convergence or divergence of the beam, i.e. has an infinite effective focal length. This type of system can be created with a pair of optical elements whe ...

to extend the focal length of

telescope A telescope is a device used to observe distant objects by their emission, absorption, or reflection of electromagnetic radiation. Originally meaning only an optical instrument using lenses, curved mirrors, or a combination of both to observe ...

s, called the

Barlow lens The Barlow lens, named after Peter Barlow, is a diverging lens which, used in series with other optics in an optical system, increases the effective focal length of an optical system as perceived by all components that are after it in the system. ...

Biography

Grave of George Dolland in West Norwood Cemetery

He was born in London, the nephew of the famous optician

Peter Dollond Peter Dollond (24 February 1731 – 2 July 1820) was an English maker of optical instruments, the son of John Dollond. He is known for his successful optics business, and for the invention of the apochromat. Biography Dollond was born in Kensing ...

. He was the son of

John Dollond John Dollond FRS (10 June O.S. (21 June N.S.) 170630 November 1761) was an English optician, known for his successful optics business and his patenting and commercialization of achromatic doublets. Biography Dollond was the son of a Hugue ...

's daughter, Susan (or Susanne) (1728–1798) who married William Huggins. His father died when he was a child. When George Huggins went into partnership with Peter Dollond in 1805, he changed his name by licence to Dollond.Gloria Clifton, ‘Dollond family (per. 1750–1871)’, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Sept 201
accessed 1 July 2015
/ref> He was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

in December, 1819. In 1820 Peter Dollond and George Dollond became opticians to

George IV George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from the death of his father, King George III, on 29 January 1820, until his own death ten y ...

. In the same year, he was one of the founding Fellows of the

Royal Astronomical Society (Whatever shines should be observed) , predecessor = , successor = , formation = , founder = , extinction = , merger = , merged = , type = NGO ...

. He died at

Camberwell Camberwell () is a district of South London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark, southeast of Charing Cross. Camberwell was first a village associated with the church of St Giles and a common of which Goose Green is a remnant. This e ...

Terrace North and was buried at

West Norwood Cemetery West Norwood Cemetery is a rural cemetery in West Norwood in London, England. It was also known as the South Metropolitan Cemetery. One of the first private landscaped cemeteries in London, it is one of the " Magnificent Seven" cemeteries of L ...

References

* Rolf Riekher, ''Fernrohre und ihre Meister'', Berlin 1957. (in German) * Gloria Clifton, ‘Dollond family (per. 1750–1871)’, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Sept 201
accessed 1 July 2015
ccess via public library {{DEFAULTSORT:Dollond, George 1774 births 1852 deaths Scientists from London British opticians 19th-century British astronomers Fellows of the Royal Society Burials at West Norwood Cemetery British scientific instrument makers