Bernhard Schmidt
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Bernhard Schmidt (March 30, 1879–December 1, 1935) was an Estonian-born optician who lived in Germany. In 1931 he invented the Schmidt telescope which corrected for spherical aberration by placing a corrector lens in front of the mirror.
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[edit] Childhood
Schmidt grew up on the island of Naissaar, off the coast of Tallinn. The inhabitants of this island speak Swedish, but the Schmidt family spoke German at home. When he was 15 years old, he lost his right hand and forearm in an experiment with gunpowder. In spite of this injury, he built his own camera later in the year.
[edit] Adulthood
Schmidt moved to Tallinn in 1895 to work as a telegraph operator. Between 1896 and 1901, he made his living as a photographer. In 1901, he went to Mittweida in Germany to further his education. In 1904, he opened an optical business there. He worked on telescope lenses, mirrors, and other objects, mainly to be used in observatories. In 1927, he sold his business to move to Hamburg, to work at a nearby observatory. In 1928, he began to use his instruments, taking pictures of Jupiter, Saturn, and the Moon. In 1930, he developed the Schmidt telescope. The original Schmidt telescope is housed in the museum of the Hamburg Observatory. The Schmidt telescope of the Karl Schwarzschild Observatory is the largest Schmidt camera of the world.
Bernhard Schmidt died of pneumonia shortly after returning from a vacation to The Netherlands on December 1, 1935.
