Moritz von Rohr (1868–1940) was an optical scientist at Carl Zeiss in Jena.

A street in Jena is named after him: Moritz-von-Rohr-Straße, near Carl-Zeiss-Promenade and Otto-Schott-Straße, reminders of the proud optical heritage of the city.

Inventions

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M. von Rohr is usually credited with the design of the first aspherical lenses, though the concept of spherical aberration and its correction by aspherical surfaces were known conceptually even before Newton.

He invented the eyeglass lens designs that became the Zeiss Punktal® lenses.

He also developed a method of computing depth of field from a camera's entrance pupil location and diameter, without reference to focal length and f-number (see his 1904 and 1906 books).

Publications

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M. von Rohr authored several books on optics, optical instruments, and photographic lenses, in German.

• 1899 Theorie und Geschichte Des Photographischen Objecktivs, Berlin: Verl. von Julius Springer
• 1904 (editor) Die Bilderzeugung in optischen Instrumenten vom Standpunkte der geometrischen Optik, Berlin: J. Springer
• 1906, 1911 Die optischen Instrumente, Leipzig: B. G. Teubner
• 1920 Die binokularen Instrumente, Berlin: J. Springer

The 1899 book was reprinted: Sources of Modern Photography series, New York: Arno Press, 1979.

The 1904 book was translated into English:

• 1920 Geometrical Investigation of the Formation of Images in Optical Instruments, London: H. M. Stationery Office

In 1936 he published a retrospective "The First Jena Catalogue of Optical Glasses Published in 1886" in Supplement to "Current Science", which is available online.

Photos

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Photos of, and more information about, Herr Dr. Prof. von Rohr are available on the Zeiss site and the AntiqueSpectacles site [http://www.antiquespectacles.com/honor_roll/honor_roll.htm.

External links

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• 1936 paper, page images

1868 births | 1940 deaths