
Joseph Von Fraunhofer – The Glassmaker Who Sparked Astrophysics (2014) - pseudolus
http://nautil.us/issue/86/energy/the-glassmaker-who-sparked-astrophysics-rp
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astro123
I highly recommend these books by Alan Hirshfeld [1][2]. The first is about
the discovery of parallax, and the instrument that was used to do this in 1838
was built by Fraunhofer. The precision of the instrument required to do this
is incredible - the movement of a star due to parallax is, over the course of
a year, about a fifth of the angular size of jupiter's great red spot. Unless
you've been lucky enough to look through a fairly big telescope, you've
probably never seen the great red spot and two centuries ago Bessel (using
Franhofer's instrument) was able to detect a change in position of a small
fraction of this.

The second book is about the technological developments of ~1850-1920
(cameras, spectroscopes, big telescopes) and is also really interesting.
Fraunhofer also makes an appearance here - he was one of the first people to
measure the absorption spectrum of the sun. These absorption features are
still called Fraunhofer lines [3]. Later Kirchhoff (of the circuit laws) and
Bunsen (of the burner) worked out what caused these.

The personal histories of all these people are also really cool, and these
books discuss the people as much as the science/tech. It's amazing for how
many people a small bit of luck was needed (or in Fraunhofer's case with the
house collapsing -> meeting the elector, a big bit of luck)!

[1] [https://www.amazon.com/Parallax-Measure-Alan-W-
Hirshfeld/dp/...](https://www.amazon.com/Parallax-Measure-Alan-W-
Hirshfeld/dp/0716737116) [2] [https://www.amazon.com/Starlight-Detectives-
Astronomers-Ecce...](https://www.amazon.com/Starlight-Detectives-Astronomers-
Eccentrics-Discovered/dp/1934137782) [3]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraunhofer_lines](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraunhofer_lines)

~~~
mymythisisthis
[https://librivox.org/edison-his-life-by-dyer-and-
martin/](https://librivox.org/edison-his-life-by-dyer-and-martin/) Thomas
Edison

"The attitude thus disclosed toward Mr. Edison's work was never changed,
except that admiration grew as fresh inventions were brought forward. To the
day of his death Lord Kelvin remained on terms of warmest friendship with his
American co-laborer, with whose genius he thus first became acquainted at
Philadelphia in the environment of Franklin."

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basementcat
This is the person of which the Fraunhofer Institute is named in honor. Among
other things, they also developed the MP3 coding format.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraunhofer_Society](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraunhofer_Society)

~~~
taejo
Minor nitpick: the Fraunhofer Society is an organization with multiple
Institutes across Germany (plus some Centers outside Germany), each working on
different areas of applied science. MP3 was developed at the Fraunhofer
Institute for Telecommunications.

~~~
4k05
Since we are nitpicking...mp3 was invented by the Fraunhofer Institute for
Integrated Circuits, the Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications is a
relatively new addition to the Fraunhofer Society, before 2003 it was called
Heinirch Herz Institute. If I recall correctly, HHI was instrumental in
developing the H.256 Video Coding Standard

~~~
taejo
That's what I get for just skimming the Wikipedia article. Thanks.

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dang
If curious see also (2 comments each)

2016
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12241662](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12241662)

2014
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8457635](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8457635)

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sxcurry
Interesting article. I just started doing some amateur spectroscopy with an
ALPY spectroscope. Seeing the absorption and emission lines of distant stars
is fascinating.

~~~
dylan604
I've always wanted to do this myself just so I can see how one isolates a
single star in view to get the reading.

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colinmegill
Cosmos dedicated an episode to him

