!!!Petzval, Josef

b. Szepes Bela (Spišska Belá, Slovakia), Jan. 6, 1807, 
d. Vienna, Sept. 17, 1891, mathematician and engineer, pioneer of 
photography. From 1837 professor of mathematics and mechanics at the 
University of Vienna, calculated mainly lenticular systems of optical 
devices, including in 1840 the first portrait lens with 
P. W. F. von  Voigtlaender, also a landscape lens 
("Orthoskop") of high intensity and photographic lenses with 40-fold 
luminous intensity ("P.-lenses"), with which the first snap-shots were 
made. P. made calculations for efficient binoculars and constructed 
new spotlights. Good sportsman (Vienna´s best fencer, wrestler). 
Eccentric and very belligerent, he lived with his horse on Kahlenberg 
(dispute with Voigtlaender and C.  Doppleron problems of acoustics).

!Literature
OeBL.



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