Spectrum of Belief: Joseph von Fraunhofer and the Craft of Precision Optics

Transformations: Studies in the History of Science and Technology

by Myles W. Jackson

In the nineteenth century, scientific practice underwent a dramatic transformationfrom personal endeavor to business enterprise. In Spectrum of Belief, Myles Jackson explores thistransformation through a sociocultural history of the rise of precision optics in Germany. He usesthe career of the optician Joseph von Fraunhofer (1787-1826) to probe the relationship betweenscience and society, and between artisans and experimental natural philosophers, during thisimportant transition.Fraunhofer came from a long line of glassmakers. Orphaned at age eleven, theyoung apprentice moved in with his master, the court decorative glass cutter. At age nineteen, boredwith his work and angered by his master's refusal to allow him to study optical theory, Fraunhofertook a position at the Optical Institute assisting in the manufacture of achromatic lenses. Withinten years he was producing the world's finest achromatic lenses and prisms.Housed in an oldBenedictine monastery, Fraunhofer's laboratory mirrored the labor of the monks. Because of hissecrecy (after his death, even those who had worked most closely with him could not achieve hissuccess), British experimental natural philosophers were unable to reproduce his work. This secrecy,while guaranteeing his institute's monopoly, thwarted Fraunhofer's attempts to gain credibilitywithin the scientific community, which looked down on artisanal work and its clandestine practicesas an affront. The response to the ensuing rise of German optical technology sheds light on crucialsocial, economic, and political issues of the period, such as mechanization, patent law reform, therole of skills in both physics and society, the rise of Mechanics' Institutes, and scientificpatronage. After his death, Fraunhofer's example was used in the newly united Germany to argue forthe merging of scientific research and technological innovation with industrial and statesupport.

284 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1998

About the author

Myles. W. Jackson is professor of the history of science at New York University, both in the Gallatin School of Individualized Study and the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. He also chairs New York University’s Science and Society Program and is the author of Spectrum of Belief: Joseph von Fraunhofer and the Craft of Precision Optics and Harmonious Triads: Physicists, Musicians, and Instrument Makers in Nineteeth-Century Germany.

Reviews

[Joseph Hirsch]

The scientific method and artisanal craftsmanship needn't always be in conflict with each other, but it's easy to see how such tensions could arise. For if the scientific method suggests that knowledge can be arrived at empirically (and it does), then what does that say about knowledge whose acquisition is intrinsically tied to an individual, who, once dead, takes that knowledge with them?

It's an interesting dilemma, one that Myles Jackson's "Spectrum of Belief" attempts to grapple with. There's no doubt that the story of Josef Von Frauenhofer, an artisan fighting for respect in a world of scientists, is a compelling one. But there's not much here in the way of biography, which wouldn't be a problem if the author had spent more time with what Fraunhofer's accomplishments say about class tensions or the struggle between artisanal knowledge and empiricism. But the approach is too scattershot and Jackson's hand is unsure when it comes to steering the story. "Scholarly" need not mean boring, and when the author devotes page after page to the minutes of a symposium in honor of Herr Fraunhofer (even including a recitation of the musical program!), it's clear that a cowriter or a diligent editor was nowhere to be found when they were needed most. Informative, interesting, but only sporadically compelling. With illustrations and images.

[Shannon]

Read 2x for a science class in college taught by the author, very interesting history and study about the development of patent rules and Joseph von Fraunhofer's method of developing perfect quality optical glass using Benedictine monks in the hills of Bavaria.