Simon Plössl was an Austrian

Austrians

Austrians are a nation and ethnic group, consisting of the population of the Republic of Austria and its historical predecessor states who share a common Austrian culture and Austrian descent....

 optical instrument

Optical instrument

An optical instrument either processes light waves to enhance an image for viewing, or analyzes light waves to determine one of a number of characteristic properties.-Image enhancement:...

 maker. Initially trained at the Voigtländer

Voigtländer

Voigtländer is an optical company founded by Johann Christoph Voigtländer in Vienna in 1756 and is thus the oldest name in cameras. It produced the Petzval photographic lens in 1840, and the world's first all-metal daguerrotype camera in 1841, also bringing out plate cameras shortly afterwards...

 company, he set up his own workshop in 1823. His major achievement at the time was the improvement of the achromatic

Achromatic lens

An achromatic lens or achromat is a lens that is designed to limit the effects of chromatic and spherical aberration. Achromatic lenses are corrected to bring two wavelengths into focus in the same plane....

 microscope

Microscope

A microscope is an instrument used to see objects that are too small for the naked eye. The science of investigating small objects using such an instrument is called microscopy...

 objective

Objective (optics)

In an optical instrument, the objective is the optical element that gathers light from the object being observed and focuses the light rays to produce a real image. Objectives can be single lenses or mirrors, or combinations of several optical elements. They are used in microscopes, telescopes,...

. Today he is best known for the eponymous Plössl telescope eyepiece, which follows his 1860 design, and is extensively used by amateur astronomers

Amateur astronomy

Amateur astronomy, also called backyard astronomy and stargazing, is a hobby whose participants enjoy watching the night sky , and the plethora of objects found in it, mainly with portable telescopes and binoculars...

 since the 1980s.

External links

• Instruments by Simon Georg Plössl
• http://www.plicht.de/chris/10ploess.htm
• http://www.bpccs.com/lcas/Articles/plossl.htm
• A short biography and some instruments from the Hellenic Archives of Scientific Instruments
• Early large microscope by Simon Plössl, made in 1840
• Early travel microscope by Simon Plössl, made in 1845

See also

• Plößlgasse, Wieden
  Wieden
  Wieden is the 4th municipal District of Vienna, Austria . It is near the center of Vienna and was established as a district in 1850, but borders changed later...