Background

Peter Wilhelm Friedrich Voigtlander was born on November 17, 1812, in Vienna, Wien, Austria.

Education

Peter Wilhelm Friedrich Voigtlander studied with his father and took advanced courses at the Polytechnic Institute (TU Wien) of Vienna.

Career

Peter Voigtlander traveled and worked in Germany, France, and England, and in 1837 he took over the family business, then ranked among the finest of European optical-goods manufacturers. Based on Josef Petzal's calculation, the company manufactured the first objective (lens) designed exclusively for photographic use. Reportedly sixteen times faster than the lens used by Daguerre, it reduced exposure times from minutes to seconds. Peter Voigtlander also developed the first all-metal daguerreotype camera in 1841. By 1849 business was good enough to encourage the construction of another factory in Braunschweig, Germany, his wife's hometown. In 1857 the company produced the achromatic Orthoskop objective, and in 1862 produced objective #10,000.

Works

More photos

• Invention

  • This curiously-shaped camera for the daguerreotype process was introduced by Peter Wilhelm Friedrich Voigtlander in 1841.

    1841

Connections

Father:

Johann Friedench

Johann Friedench continued the family business and in 1823 invented and patented the opera glass.

Grandfather:

Johann Christoph Voigtlander

Johann Christoph Voigtlander established a shop in 1756 to manufacture microscopes, compasses and other optical instruments.