Georg Merz

Georg Merz was a Bavarian optician and manufacturer of astronomical telescopes and other optical instruments.

Life

Merz was born on 26 January 1793 in Bichl, in Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen, now in Bavaria, Germany. At the age of 15 he went to work in the glassworks recently set up by in the nearby deconsecrated monastery of Benediktbeuern. There he became the assistant of Joseph Fraunhofer. From 1826, when Fraunhofer died, Merz was in charge of the optical division of the business. On the death of von Utzschneider in 1839 Merz, in partnership with Joseph Mahler, bought the firm. After Mahler's death he ran the business in partnership with his sons Ludwig and Sigmund. When Ludwig died in 1858 the name was changed to G. & S. Merz.
Georg Merz died in Munich on 12 January 1867. In 1882 the firm passed to Jacob and Matthias Merz, Sigmund's cousins, and in 1884 the Benediktbeuern works was closed. The company moved to Munich, and closed in 1903.
Image:Refractor Cincinnati observatory.jpg|thumb|Illustration of the 11 inch "Merz and Mahler" refracting telescope, Cincinnati Observatory
Image:Kraus Merz refractor.jpg|thumb|Refraktor Merz 160/1790 at the baron Artur Krause's Observatory in Pardubice, 1912-1930

Telescopes

The 1845 Merz und Mahler 11″ refractor at the Cincinnati Observatory
The 1847 15″ Harvard Great Refractor at Harvard College Observatory
The 1839 Merz und Mahler 15″ refractor at Pulkovo Observatory
The 1838 Merz 6″ refractor at Leiden Observatory
The Yellow House Observatory in Dover, MA
12½″ Merz refractor telescope at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich
5″ G. & S. Merz equatorial refractor telescope at the Astronomical Observatory of Capodimonte, Naples, Italy
8.05″ Merz refractor telescope at the Brera Astronomical Observatory, Italy
The 6.75" Vince Refractor at Bayfordbury Observatory uses a Merz lens manufactured in 1860
The 5.9″ refractor at the Round Tower Observatory uses a G. & S. Merz lens
Georg Merz and Sons, vintage 7¼″ refracting telescope at the Sydney Observatory
Georg Merz and Sons, vintage refracting telescope at the Quito Astronomical Observatory
An equatorial mounted achromatic refractor from his firm was used in discovery of Neptune.