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

optical instrument An optical instrument 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, telescopes, and camera ...

s used in

astronomy Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest includ ...

geodesy Geodesy or geodetics is the science of measuring and representing the Figure of the Earth, geometry, Gravity of Earth, gravity, and Earth's rotation, spatial orientation of the Earth in Relative change, temporally varying Three-dimensional spac ...

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 ...

to extend the focal length of

telescope A telescope is a device used to observe distant objects by their emission, Absorption (electromagnetic radiation), absorption, or Reflection (physics), reflection of electromagnetic radiation. Originally, it was an optical instrument using len ...

s, called the

Barlow lens The Barlow lens, named after Peter Barlow, is a type of 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 ...

Biography

Grave of George Dolland in West Norwood Cemetery

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

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

. He was the son of

John Dollond John Dollond (30 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 Huguenot refugee, a silk-weaver at Spitalfie ...

'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 Fellows 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 29 January 1820 until his death in 1830. At the time of his accession to the throne, h ...

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

Royal Astronomical Society The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) is a learned society and charitable organisation, charity that encourages and promotes the study of astronomy, planetary science, solar-system science, geophysics and closely related branches of science. Its ...

. He died at

Camberwell Camberwell ( ) is an List of areas of London, area 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' Church, Camberwell, St Giles ...

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 ...

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