Johann Diedrich Möller

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Johann Diedrich Möller (born March 16, 1844 in Wedel ; † October 29, 1907 there ) was a German optician .

Life

The second son of a linen weaver had to contribute to the family's livelihood as a child with weaving, painting and farm work. First he learned the painting trade, he perfected his drawing skills in the drawing school of the Hamburg Patriotic Society. Due to his interest in lenses and optical devices, he also took an apprenticeship with the Hamburg optician Dr. Hugo Schröder . At the age of 20 he returned to Wedel and set up a small optical workshop in his parents' house in 1864. It was the nucleus for the later company “Optical Works JD Möller”.

Here he began to manufacture microscope lenses and prisms for Hamburg companies. However, his interests went well beyond this work. With a self-made microscope he examined insects, plants and wood. He also developed a line of business from this, because the need for permanent microscopic specimens for display collections grew.

Möller had wells drilled in Wedel in order to have the water necessary for making lenses available at all times. Due to his interest in optical issues, he experimented with photography early on; a collection of photos from Wedel was created from the decades around the turn of the century. He also made microscopic photographs of famous personalities, and viewing these microphotos under the microscope was used for social entertainment.

Since Möller's business was flourishing, he moved his workshop to a farmhouse. In 1869/70 he was wealthy enough to build a house on the Rosengarten 6 property. In the 1880s he was also involved in growing asparagus; at the horticultural exhibition in 1897, his varieties were awarded. In 1904 Möller spent a few months in the USA. He died of pneumonia. The city of Wedel named a street after him.

The company founded by Möller became known for pocket prism glasses, Cinemascope projection attachments and microscopes; It currently has world renown as a manufacturer of precision eye surgery devices.

Möller's diatom preparations

The focus of Möller's work was laying preparations of diatoms , i.e. microscopic, multifaceted diatoms that were arranged in a circular shape or in more complex, mostly round, symmetrical shapes according to aesthetic and mathematical aspects. Viewing such "salon preparations" served to pass the time in higher social circles. Möller's diatom preparations are unmatched in terms of the number of diatoms placed, the precision of the placement and the aesthetics of the arrangement. No other diatomist possessed the highest level of craftsmanship and aesthetic sensitivity at the same time as Möller. With the circular and salon preparations on the one hand as well as the so-called “type plates” for the classification of diatoms, Möller, whose diatom preparations were initially considered “unscientific”, ultimately managed the balancing act between serious science and art. Up to 4,000 diatoms were geometrically arranged on the largest type plates. In 1890 Möller published a catalog of these laying plates in which he documented them photographically. He has received international awards for his work.

Only in the last few years has Möller's life's work been systematically processed by Matthias Burba, numerous manuscripts, including preparation techniques developed by Möller that were considered lost, were found again, and the whereabouts of numerous specimens could also be clarified.

literature

  • Joachim Rienitz:  Möller, Johann Dietrich. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 17, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1994, ISBN 3-428-00198-2 , p. 645 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Sabine Weiss, Klaus Möller (eds.): JD Möller Optische Werke Wedel, 1864–1989. Erfurt 2006, ISBN 3-89702-955-3 .
  • Helene Kranz: Diatoms in the 19th Century. Type plates and salon preparations from Johann Diedrich Möller . [Treatises of the Natural Science Association Hamburg; Bd. 41. Catalog Zoological Museum of the University of Hamburg]. Keltern-Weiler, Goecke & Evers, 2009.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ JD Möllers type plates rediscovered. on: mikrohamburg.de
  2. ↑ WorldCat.org: Johann Diedrich Möller
personal data
SURNAME Möller, Johann Diedrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German optician
DATE OF BIRTH March 16, 1844
PLACE OF BIRTH frond
DATE OF DEATH October 29, 1907
Place of death frond