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Astro*Dictionary by Michael Erlewine

 

 

 

 

1 article for "Dolland, John"

Dolland, John [Astro*Index]

(1706-1761) English optician. Born and died at London.

Self-educated in Latin, Greek, mathematics, and science. He solved the problem of making lenses which were free of chromatic aberration by using two different kinds of glass, which refracted various colors of light differently, but combined them so that the effect from one lense was corrected by the second. The achromatic telescope which resulted allowed the refracting telescopes of that period to keep pace with reflecting telescopes for many years. His work also led to the invention of achromatic microscopes. With his inventions, Dolland had proven that Newton was wrong in his belief that it was impossible to avoid chromatic aberration; such a strong challenge to any belief of Newton should be viewed as beneficial to science. A major challenge to Newton's Universal Theory of Gravitation had to await the efforts of Einstein.

 

 

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