Maximilian Jacob Herzberger was a German mathematician and physicist, known for his development of the superachromat lens.
Background
Maximilian Herzberger was the son of Leopold Herzberger (born 7 March 1870, Krefeld — died in Rochester (New York)) and Sonja/Sofia Behrendt/Berendt/Berends (22 March 1876, St. Petersburg (Germany) — 28 January 1945, Florence). He had a sister Olga (24 September 1897, Berlin — 2 August 1922, Berlin).
Education
He studied mathematics and physics at the Berlin University, where Albert Einstein was one of his professors, and later became a friend and advisor. In 1923, Herzberger finished his Doctor of Philosophy thesis Ueber Systeme hyperkomplexer Grössen under Ludwig Bieberbach and Issai Schur at the philosophical faculty.
Career
Ruth (born 1928), Ursula (1931), and Hans (6 August 1932, spouse of Radhika Herzberger). Number later than September 1930, he was assistant of Hans Boegehold,(de) the chief of calculation office at Carl Zeiss Jena. In 1934, the Nazis deprived him from his professorship at Jena University and his contract with Zeiss.
He emigrated with his family to Rochester (New York), where he got head of Eastman Kodak"s optical research laboratories, arranged by Einstein.
In 1940, he and his family became United States. citizens. In 1945, he got the Cressy Morrison Award of the New York Academy of Sciences.
In 1954, he finished the development of the superachromat as the ultimately well-corrected lens for Kodak. In 1962, he was awarded the Frederic Ives Medal of the Optical Society of America.
In 1965, he retired from his position at Kodak, and helped building a graduate institute for optics in Switzerland, until in 1968 he followed invitation of the University of New Orleans to teach at their Physics Department.
He held patents for an "apochromatic telescope objective having three air spaced components", and a "superachromatic objective".