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

Dollond was born in

Kensington Kensington is an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around west of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensingt ...

. Working together with his father and subsequently with his younger brother and nephew ( George Dollond) he successfully designed and manufactured a number of optical instruments. He is particularly credited with the invention of the triple

achromatic lens An achromatic lens or achromat is a lens (optics), lens that is designed to limit the effects of chromatic aberration, chromatic and spherical aberration. Achromatic lenses are corrected to bring two wavelengths (typically red and blue) into ...

- i.e., apochromatic lens - in 1763, still in wide use today, though known as the Cooke triplet after a much later 1893 patent. Peter Dollond worked at first silk weaving with his father, but his father's passion for optics inspired him so much that in 1750 Peter quit the silk business and opened an optical instruments shop in Kennington,

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. After two years, his father gave up silk, too, and joined him. Dollond telescopes, for sidereal or terrestrial use, were amongst the most popular in both Great Britain and abroad for a period of over one and half centuries. Admiral Lord Nelson himself owned one. Another had sailed with Captain Cook in 1769 to observe the Transit of Venus. He was elected to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

in 1772. The Peter Dollond compound chest

microscope A microscope () is a laboratory equipment, laboratory instrument used to examine objects that are too small to be seen by the naked eye. Microscopy is the science of investigating small objects and structures using a microscope. Microscopic ...

is based on improvements to the Cuff-style microscope introduced by British scientific instrument designers Edward Nairne and Thomas Blunt around 1780. Another design was for the Peter Dollond compound monocular Eriometer around 1790 used to accurately measure the thickness and size of

wool Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have some properties similar to animal w ...

fibres. After successfully defending a legal challenge to the patent he held for the achromatic lens the business prospered and he successfully sued his rivals for patent infringement. Dollond's reputation, especially with his father being a Fellow of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

as a result of his development and patenting of the achromat, provided the company with the de facto right of refusal on the best optical flint glass.Daumas, Maurice, ''Scientific Instruments of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries and Their Makers'', Portman Books, London 1989 This privilege permitted Dollond to maintain an edge in quality over competitor's telescopes and optical instruments for many years. Notable customers also included: *

Leopold Mozart Johann Georg Leopold Mozart (November 14, 1719 – May 28, 1787) was a German composer, violinist, and music theorist. He is best known today as the father and teacher of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and for his violin textbook ''Versuch einer grün ...

* Frederick the Great *

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...

* James Lind Dollond & Co merged with Aitchison & Co in 1927 to form Dollond & Aitchison, the well-known British high street chain of opticians. Peter Dollond's wife was Ann Phillips and they had two daughters, Louise and Anne.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dollond, Peter 1731 births People from Kensington 18th-century English astronomers English inventors British scientific instrument makers 1820 deaths Optical engineers Members of the American Philosophical Society