Walter Zapp
Walter Zapp ( Latvian Valters Caps; born August 22 . Jul / 4. September 1905 greg. In Riga , Governorate of Livonia , now Latvia ; † 17th July 2003 in Binningen in Basel ) was the inventor of miniature camera and the brand Minox .
Life
Walter Zapp's father, Karl, came from the Rhineland but grew up in England and was a British citizen. His mother Emilie geb. Burchard came from a German-Baltic family. At the beginning of the First World War , the family was deported to Ufa in the Urals and was only able to return separately in 1918. Walter Zapp's schooling remained incomplete due to the difficult living conditions and the resulting psychological problems. In 1919 he left school on medical advice. An apprenticeship at the lithography institute WF Hacker in Riga was ended by moving to the Tallinn district of Nõmme . In Tallinn, Zapp began an apprenticeship with the photographer Walter Lemberg, which was a decisive step in his further professional development.
In 1934 he began developing a revolutionary miniature camera with the production of the first size and shape models (wooden blocks). In 1936 the original Minox was created, the first model in the Minox 8x11 series , which was produced until 2012 . The market launch took place in 1938. As a result, 17,500 cameras of this type were manufactured in the Riga VEF (Valsts elektrotehniskā fabrika) .
After the Second World War , he founded Minox GmbH in Wetzlar in 1945 . In 1948 the company moved to Heuchelheim , Gießen district , and production of the first post-war model (later the Minox A) began. In 1958 the Minox B with a coupled exposure meter was launched . In 1969 the Minox C followed with electronic automatic exposure. In 1990 the pocket telescope Minox T8 developed by Zapp came onto the market. In 1995 Minox returned to Wetzlar.
In 2000 Walter Zapp traveled with members of the 1st German MINOX Club eV after 60 years to his old hometown Riga and then also visited Pärnu and Tallinn.
The extraordinary, always humble Zapp died at the old age of 97 in Switzerland.
Publications
Walter Zapp: A Russian galvanometer . In: Physical sheets . 1, No. 9, 1944, pp. 138-140. doi : 10.1002 / phbl.19440010907 .
Honors
In 2001 Walter Zapp was honored with the Order of the Marienland Cross by the Estonian President for his life's work. In the same year he was awarded an honorary doctorate (Dr.sc.ing.hc) by the Latvian Academy of Sciences in Riga .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Entry in the baptismal register of St. Peter's Church in Riga (Latvian: Rīgas sv. Pētera baznīca)
- ↑ serial numbers . Minox. Retrieved March 1, 2014.
- ↑ Madis Jürgen: Walter Zapp - Suur inimene, kes tegi väikese asja ( Estonian ) In: Eesti Ekspress . June 15, 2000. Accessed on September 16, 2012. ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Teenetemärkide kavalerid: Walter Zapp ( Estonian ) In: Eesti Vabariigi teenetemärgid . Vabariigi President. Retrieved March 1, 2014.
- ^ Valters Caps ( Latvian ) In: Latvijas izgudrojumi un izgudrotāji . Latvijas Zinātņu akadēmija. Retrieved March 1, 2014.
See also
Web links
- Walter Zapp at the Minox Historical Society (accessed September 16, 2012)
- Leiutis, mis läks Eestist maailma (Estonian, accessed September 16, 2012)
- Biography , Latvian, accessed October 23, 2014
- Special exhibition in the local museum in Binningen
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Zapp, Walter |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Caps, Valters (Latvian) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German-Baltic-Swiss inventor of the miniature camera and the Minox brand |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 4th September 1905 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Riga , Livonia Governorate |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 17, 2003 |
| Place of death | Binningen near Basel |