Georg Merz (26 January 1793 – 12 January 1867) was a Bavarian

optician An optician is an individual who fits glasses or contact lenses by filling a refractive prescription from an optometrist or ophthalmologist. They are able to translate and adapt ophthalmic prescriptions, dispense products, and work with acces ...

and manufacturer of astronomical telescopes and other

optical instruments 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 cameras ...

Life

Merz was born on 26 January 1793 in Bichl, in

Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen ( Bavarian: ''Bad Däiz-Woifradshausn'') is a ''Landkreis'' (district) in Bavaria, Germany. It is bounded by (from the south and clockwise) Austria and the districts of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Weilheim-Schongau, Starnber ...

, now in

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

, Germany. At the age of 15 he went to work in the

glassworks Glass production involves two main methods – the float glass process that produces sheet glass, and glassblowing that produces bottles and other containers. It has been done in a variety of ways during the history of glass. Glass container p ...

recently set up by in the nearby deconsecrated monastery of

Benediktbeuern Benediktbeuern (; Central Bavarian: ''Benediktbeiern'') is a municipality in the district of Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen in Bavaria, Germany, 2 kilometers, or 1.25 miles from Bichl. The village has 3,602 residents as of 31 December 2019. The medie ...

. There he became the assistant of

Joseph Fraunhofer Joseph Ritter von Fraunhofer (; ; 6 March 1787 – 7 June 1826) was a German physicist and optical lens manufacturer. He made optical glass, an achromatic telescope, and objective lenses. He developed diffraction grating and also invented the s ...

. From 1826, when Fraunhofer died, Merz was in charge of the optical division of the business. On the death of von Utzschneider in 1839 Merz, in partnership with Joseph Mahler, bought the firm. After Mahler's death he ran the business in partnership with his sons Ludwig and Sigmund. When Ludwig died in 1858 the name was changed to G. & S. Merz. Georg Merz died in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

on 12 January 1867. In 1882 the firm passed to Jacob and Matthias Merz, Sigmund's cousins, and in 1884 the Benediktbeuern works was closed. The company moved to Munich, and closed in 1903.

Telescopes

*The 1845 Merz und Mahler 11″ refractor at the

Cincinnati Observatory The Cincinnati Observatory, known locally as Mt. Lookout Observatory, is located in Cincinnati, Ohio, Cincinnati, Ohio (United States) on top of Mount Lookout, Ohio, Mount Lookout. It consists of two observatory buildings housing an 11-inch (28&n ...

*The 1847 15″ Harvard Great Refractor at

Harvard College Observatory The Harvard College Observatory (HCO) is an institution managing a complex of buildings and multiple instruments used for astronomical research by the Harvard University Department of Astronomy. It is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United St ...

*The 1839 Merz und Mahler 15″ refractor at

Pulkovo Observatory The Pulkovo Astronomical Observatory (), officially named the Central Astronomical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences at Pulkovo, is the principal astronomical observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences. It is located 19 km south ...

*The 1838 Merz 6″ (160 mm) refractor at

Leiden Observatory Leiden Observatory () is an astronomical institute of Leiden University, in the Netherlands. Established in 1633 to house the quadrant of Willebrord Snellius, it is the oldest operating university observatory in the world, with the only older sti ...

*The Yellow House Observatory in Dover, MA *12½″ Merz refractor telescope at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich *5″ (135 mm) G. & S. Merz equatorial refractor telescope at the Astronomical Observatory of Capodimonte,

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

, Italy *8.05″ (218 mm) Merz refractor telescope at the

Brera Astronomical Observatory The Brera Observatory () is an astronomical observatory in the Brera (district of Milan), Brera district of Milan, Italy. It was built in the historic Palazzo Brera in 1764 by the Jesuit astronomer Roger Boscovich. Following the suppression of the ...

, Italy *Georg Merz and Sons, vintage 7¼″ refracting telescope at the Sydney Observatory *Georg Merz and Sons, vintage refracting telescope at the Quito Astronomical Observatory *An equatorial mounted achromatic refractor from his firm was used in

discovery of Neptune The planet Neptune was mathematically predicted before it was directly observed. With a prediction by Urbain Le Verrier, telescopic observations confirming the existence of a major planet were made on the night of September 23–24, Autumnal Equ ...

. File:Antique Telescope at the Quito Astronomical Observatory 001.JPG, An 1875 Merz Telescope at the Quito Astronomical Observatory

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Merz, Georg 1793 births 1867 deaths Engineers from Bavaria Optical engineers Telescope manufacturers People from Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen German scientific instrument makers