Thomas Rudolphus Dallmeyer (16 May 185925 December 1906),"Obituary; Thomas Rudolphus Dallmeyer" (1907) ''The Photographic Journal'', Vol. 31, pp. 20–21, Royal Photographic Society, London English

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 ...

, was the son of

John Henry Dallmeyer John Henry Dallmeyer (6 September 183030 December 1883), Anglo-German optician, was born at Loxten, Westphalia, the son of a landowner. On leaving school at the age of sixteen he was apprenticed to an Osnabrück optician, and in 1851 he came to Lo ...

who ran an optics business. His maternal grandfather, Andrew Ross, was himself the first English photographic optician.

Life

After attending other schools, Thomas enrolled at

Mill Hill School Mill Hill School is a 13–18 co-educational Private schools in the United Kingdom, private, Day school, day and boarding school in Mill Hill, London, England that was established in 1807. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' ...

where he came under the tutelage of Dr. J.A.H. Murray who is best known as an editor of the ''

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the principal historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP), a University of Oxford publishing house. The dictionary, which published its first editio ...

''. After leaving school, he entered his father's optometry business, while learning the theoretical side from

Oliver Lodge Sir Oliver Joseph Lodge (12 June 1851 – 22 August 1940) was an English physicist whose investigations into electromagnetic radiation contributed to the development of Radio, radio communication. He identified electromagnetic radiation indepe ...

. When Thomas was twenty-one, his father went on a long voyage to recuperate from overwork but died during the journey. Thomas took over and not only maintained the reputation of the lenses his father had designed but he continually improved them and added new patterns. Among his principal inventions was the first practical telephoto lens (patented 1891) which he afterwards elaborated into many special forms for various purposes, a rapid landscape lens, a rectilinear landscape lens, some of the earliest rapid lenses made with lenses from

Jena Jena (; ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Germany and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 in ...

, Germany, and the Adon and Junior Adon telephoto lenses. He also invented the Naturalist's Camera for which he received the medal of the

Royal Photographic Society The Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, commonly known as the Royal Photographic Society (RPS), is the world's oldest photographic society having been in continuous existence since 1853. It was founded in London, England, in 1853 as th ...

. He also designed the Dallmeyer-Bergen lens, which was the prototype of the anachromatic lenses. It was suggested by a painter, J.S. Bergheim, who wished for a lens which would give him correct drawing and soft definition without sacrificing the natural structure of the original. He was the author of a standard book on the subject of telephoto lenses, ''Telephotography'' (1899).Thomas Rudolphus Dallmeyer (1899) ''Telephotography: an elementary treatise on the construction, and application of the telephotographic lens''
William Heinemann, London He served as president of the Royal Photographic Society in 1900-1903. He married Julia Fanny Thomas (died 26 September 1936), daughter of Charles Thomas Lt 54 Bengal Infantry, on 13 January 1886.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dallmeyer, Thomas 1859 births 1906 deaths Lens designers Photographers from London British optometrists