Ludwig Schupmann

Ludwig Schupmann ( born January 23, 1851 in Geseke, † October 2, 1920 ) was a German architect and university lecturer, who emerged outside of his professional career as a designer of telescopes. He became known through the constructed by him Schupmann medial telescope.

Life

Schupmann studied architecture at the Technical University of Aachen. After graduating, he worked primarily with the design of public buildings, which were bestowed on him numerous awards and he was in 1881 appointed government architect. Because of his talent and appropriated knowledge since April 1881 he has won both Karl Bethge ( 1847-1900 ) and further awarded a travel bonus of 1800 Mark on June 17, 1882. Purpose was a long study trip to the perfection of education. to enable.

Go to its draft, the so-called " Schupmann candelabra " back, which were set up on the Berlin Unter den Linden from 1887. In 1889 Schupmann was appointed professor of structural engineering at the Technische Hochschule Aachen and appointed to the Privy Baurat later.

In addition to the architecture Schupmanns was particularly interested in astronomy and technology of telescopes. He worked intensively with the improvement of telescopes. To this end, he devised a correction system that compensated for the chromatic aberration of the lenses.

Schupmann intended to produce large telescopes with lens openings of more than 1 m for professional use at observatories, which, however, did not realize. Although Schupmann medial telescopes with apertures were made up to 38.5 cm with excellent imaging characteristics - the moon observer Philipp Fauth used such a device - could not enforce this type of telescope. From 1911 - with the commissioning of a 1.5 -meter telescope at Mount Wilson Observatory - joined the reflectors ( mirror telescopes ) at their triumphant.

In the U.S., however, still exist today veritable fan bases of amateur astronomers who build Schupmann Medial itself. The devices are particularly suited for observing the planets and the moon.

To commemorate Schupmanns a crater was named on the moon. On the initiative of the American Schupmann fans of the asteroid got 1990BC1 in December 2007 the name " ( 5779 ) Schupmann ". His nephew was the Westphalian local historian Josef Lappe.

Buildings and designs

Writings

• The medial telescopes. A new design for large astronomical instruments. B. G. Teubner Verlag, Leipzig, 1899.