Robert-Aglaé Cauchoix

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Observatory of the Collegio Romano . Number 4 indicates the accommodation of Cauchoix's telescope

Robert-Aglaé Cauchoix ( April 24, 1776 -  February 5, 1845 ) was a French optician and precision mechanic . The lenses and objectives he built for the giant telescopes of the 19th century were important.

Cauchoix initially produced measuring instruments such as barometers , micrometers and ring spherometers , but later specialized in optical components . He built several achromatic lenses and telescopes for various research institutions . A telescope built by him was in the Paris observatory . Inventories of the observatories of this time report a passage instrument in Strasbourg and a refractor in the Collegio Romano in Rome . In the Royal Greenwich Observatory is the Sheepshanks telescope, named after the pastor Richard Sheepshanks, who gave the observatory the Cauchoixs lens.

Great refractors

Although mirror telescopes had long been known, refractors could offer them competition on a scientific level until around the middle of the 19th century. At that time, a competition for lens size broke out, for example with the 244 mm telescope built by Joseph von Fraunhofer in 1824. Three of Cauchoix's lenses broke the record for the largest lens at the time. In 1831 he completed a 338mm refractor for the Irish scientist Edward Joshua Cooper . In 1829 Cauchoix produced a 298 mm lens for the British astronomer James South , who used it to build a telescope. Because of problems with the mount , South had this instrument dismantled, but Cauchoix's lens was still used in various telescopes until 1989.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b CAUCHOIX , website of Peter Abrahams of the "Antique Telescope Society", accessed on May 12, 2014.
  2. ↑ Robert-Aglae Cauchoix ( Memento of the original from February 22, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Profile on the website of an antique dealer, accessed on May 12, 2014. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.rauantiques.com
  3. ↑ Hutchins, R. (2008); British University Observatories, 1772-1939, p. 245 (Strasbourg), p. 266/267 (Rome), accessed via GoogleBooks on May 12, 2014.
  4. ^ Sheepshanks telescope , Royal Museums Greenwich website, accessed May 12, 2014.
personal data
SURNAME Cauchoix, Robert-Aglaé
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French optician and precision mechanic
DATE OF BIRTH April 24, 1776
DATE OF DEATH February 5, 1845