Georg Oberhäuser
Georg Johann Oberhäuser , also Georges Oberhaeuser, (born July 16, 1798 in Ansbach , † January 10, 1868 in Paris ) was a German optician who worked in Paris.
Life
The son of the master turner Michael Adam Oberhäuser (1755-1814) attended grammar school in Ansbach and then went on to do an apprenticeship with the university mechanic Mouceau in Würzburg . In 1816 he emigrated to France and worked in the mechanical workshop of Henri Gambey (1787–1847) in Paris. In 1822 he founded his own small business. From 1830 he ran an optical workshop together with Bouquet and Achille Trécourt, before separating from his partners again in 1837.
Oberhäuser developed the drum microscope based on an older design by the English instrument maker Benjamin Martin (1705–1782) and produced it in large numbers (several thousand) for the time. Because of its simple and precise mechanics and good optics, it met the needs of its main customers, doctors and botanists , more than the competing products of other opticians. From 1835 he improved the drum stand by weighting the inside with lead. In 1848 he introduced the horseshoe-shaped tripod base and thus shaped the appearance of light microscopes for the next hundred years and essentially until today. He also standardized the tube length to 160 millimeters. Oberhäuser became the leading manufacturer of microscopes on the European mainland.
In 1854 he took on his colleague Edmund Hartnack as a partner. After he had gradually withdrawn from the business, he handed the business over completely to Hartnack, who had meanwhile married Oberhauser's niece, Johanna Maria Louise Kleinod, in 1864.
Oberhäuser remained connected to his hometown Ansbach throughout his life. He made donations to the city's museums and founded a foundation to alleviate poverty and promote industrial purposes in Ansbach. In 1852 the city made him its honorary citizen .
literature
- Max Seeberger: Oberhaeuser, Georg Johann. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 19, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-428-00200-8 , p. 385 f. ( Digitized version ).
- Gustav Karsten : Oberhäuser, Georg . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 24, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1887, p. 94.
- Adolf Seitz: News on the biography of the optician Georg Oberhäuser . In: Central newspaper for optics and mechanics, electrical engineering and related professions 1923, ZDB -ID 163308-9 , pp. 214–215.
- Justus Thiersch: On the history of the microscope. (Georg Oberhäuser). In: Münchener Medizinische Wochenschrift (MMW) 80, 1933, 43, ISSN 0027-2973 , pp. 1671-1673.
Web links
- Georg Oberhäuser's microscope in the Museum of Optical Instruments
- Microscope museum
- Jeroen Meeusen collection
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Oberhäuser, Georg |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Oberhaeuser, Georges |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German optician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 16, 1798 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Ansbach |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 10, 1868 |
| Place of death | Paris |