Maximilian Jacob Herzberger (7 or 17 Mar 1899,

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, Germany — 9 Apr 1982,

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

, United States)Record
at geni.com, and related records was a German-American

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...

and

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate caus ...

, known for his development of the

superachromat The superachromat or superachromatic lens was first conceived and developed by Maximilian Herzberger as the ultimate well-corrected lens. The color shift curve of a superachromat is a quartic, meaning that in theory four separate colors can be b ...

lens.

Life

Maximilian Herzberger was the son of Leopold Herzberger (born 7 Mar 1870,

Krefeld Krefeld ( , ; li, Krieëvel ), also spelled Crefeld until 1925 (though the spelling was still being used in British papers throughout the Second World War), is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located northwest of Düsseldorf, i ...

— died in

Rochester (NY) Rochester () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, and Yonkers, with a population of 211,328 at the 2020 United States census. Located in ...

) and Sonja/Sofia Behrendt/Berendt/Berends (22 Mar 1876, Petersburg (Germany) — 28 Jan 1945,

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

); he had a sister Olga (24 Sep 1897, Berlin — 2 Aug 1922, Berlin). The family was

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

. He studied mathematics and physics at the

Berlin University Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative o ...

, where

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...

was one of his professors, and later became a friend and advisor. In 1923, Herzberger finished his Ph.D. thesis ''Ueber Systeme hyperkomplexer Grössen'' under

Ludwig Bieberbach Ludwig Georg Elias Moses Bieberbach (; 4 December 1886 – 1 September 1982) was a German mathematician and Nazi. Biography Born in Goddelau, near Darmstadt, he studied at Heidelberg and under Felix Klein at Göttingen, receiving his doctorate ...

and

Issai Schur Issai Schur (10 January 1875 – 10 January 1941) was a Russian mathematician who worked in Germany for most of his life. He studied at the University of Berlin. He obtained his doctorate in 1901, became lecturer in 1903 and, after a stay at the ...

at the philosophical faculty. In 1925, he married Edith Kaufmann (10 Oct 1901,

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

— 16 Feb 2001, Carlsbad (California) or

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

); they had three children, born in Jena, viz. Ruth (born 1928),

Ursula Bellugi Ursula Bellugi (February 21, 1931 – April 17, 2022) was an American cognitive neuroscientist. She was a Distinguished Professor Emerita and director of the Laboratory for Cognitive Neuroscience at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California. ...

(1931), and Hans (6 Aug 1932, spouse of

Radhika Herzberger Radhika Herzberger (née Jayakar; born 1938) is an Indian writer, educationist and scholar in Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit and Indology. She lives in Rishi Valley School, in the Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh, and serves as the Director ...

).Person sheet
at goudsmit.home.xs4all.nl No later than Sep 1930, he was assistant of Hans Boegehold,^{( de)} the chief of calculation office at Carl Zeiss Jena. In 1934, the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

deprived him from his professorship at

Jena University The University of Jena, officially the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (german: Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, abbreviated FSU, shortened form ''Uni Jena''), is a public research university located in Jena, Thuringia, Germany. The un ...

and his contract with Zeiss. He emigrated with his family to

,Catalog entry
at medicusbooks.com, about a common letter of Boegehold and Herzberger to

Erwin Lihotzky Erwin may refer to: People Given name * Erwin Chargaff (1905–2002), Austrian biochemist * Erwin Dold (1919–2012), German concentration camp commandant in World War 2 * Erwin Hauer (1926–2017), Austrian-born American sculptor * Egon Erwin Kisc ...

at the

Ernst Leitz GmbH Ernst Leitz GmbH was a German corporation based in Wetzlar, a German centre for optics as well as an important location for the precision engineering industry, now divided into four independent companies: * Leica Camera, manufacturer of camera a ...

where he became head of

Eastman Kodak The Eastman Kodak Company (referred to simply as Kodak ) is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in analogue photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorpor ...

's optical research laboratories, arranged by Einstein. In 1940, he and his family became U.S. citizens. In 1945, he got the

Cressy Morrison Abraham Cressy Morrison (December 6, 1864 – January 9, 1951) was an American chemist and president of the New York Academy of Sciences. Biography Abraham Cressy Morrison was born in Wrentham, Massachusetts, on December 6, 1864, to Abram B. Mor ...

Award of the

New York Academy of Sciences The New York Academy of Sciences (originally the Lyceum of Natural History) was founded in January 1817 as the Lyceum of Natural History. It is the fourth oldest scientific society in the United States. An independent, nonprofit organization wit ...

. In 1954 he finished the development of the

as the ultimately well-corrected lens for Kodak. In 1962, he was awarded the

Frederic Ives Frederic Eugene Ives (February 17, 1856 – May 27, 1937) was a U.S. inventor who was born in Litchfield, Connecticut. In 1874–78 he had charge of the photographic laboratory at Cornell University. He moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where ...

Medal of the

Optical Society of America Optica (formerly known as The Optical Society (OSA) and before that as the Optical Society of America) is a professional society of individuals and companies with an interest in optics and photonics. It publishes journals and organizes conference ...

. In 1965, he retired from his position at Kodak, and helped building a graduate institute for optics in Switzerland, until in 1968 he followed invitation of the

University of New Orleans The University of New Orleans (UNO) is a public research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is a member of the University of Louisiana System and the Urban 13 association. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High rese ...

to teach at their Physics Department.Lorena Dureau
''Einstein's Protege''
p.56-58, Sep.???? (1970 or after) He held patents for an ''"apochromatic telescope objective having three air spaced components"'', and a ''"superachromatic objective"''.May 1965 with Nancy R Mcclure
US 3395962
at google patents

Publications

''Ueber Systeme hyperkomplexer Grössen''
Max Herzberger, Berlin, 1923, Ebering. * ''Untersuchungen über die Eigenschaften erster Ordnung von reellen Strahlensystemen'', Jan 1928, De Gruyter,
''Untersuchungen über die Eigenschaften erster Ordnung von reellen Strahlensystemen''
in:

Journal für die reine und angewandte Mathematik ''Crelle's Journal'', or just ''Crelle'', is the common name for a mathematics journal, the ''Journal für die reine und angewandte Mathematik'' (in English: ''Journal for Pure and Applied Mathematics''). History The journal was founded by Augus ...

, Vol.159, p. 36-49, 1928 * ''Über die geometrische Bedeutung des Rotationswinkels in der Strahlengeometrie'', Jan 1928, De Gruyter,
''Über die geometrische Bedeutung des Rotationswinkels in der Strahlengeometrie''
in:

, Vol.160, p. 33-37, 1929
''Gullstrand, Allvar''
Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography, 2008 * M. Herzberger, ''

Allvar Gullstrand Allvar Gullstrand (5 June 1862 – 28 July 1930) was a Swedish ophthalmologist and optician. Life Born at Landskrona, Sweden, Gullstrand was professor (1894–1927) successively of eye therapy and of optics at the University of Uppsala. He ap ...

'', in Optica Acta, Vol.3 (1960), p. 237–241

References

External links

''Homage to an immortal KUBRICK AND THE LEGENDARY PLANAR 50mm f / 0.7''
about a camera objective based on a 1937 draft by Herzberger, and used by

Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, his films, almost all of which are adaptations of nove ...

for his film ''"

Barry Lyndon ''Barry Lyndon'' is a 1975 period drama film written, directed, and produced by Stanley Kubrick, based on the 1844 novel ''The Luck of Barry Lyndon'' by William Makepeace Thackeray. Starring Ryan O'Neal, Marisa Berenson, Patrick Magee, Leonard ...

"'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Herzberger, Maximilian 1899 births 1982 deaths Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United States 20th-century German mathematicians 20th-century German physicists 20th-century American mathematicians