Deutsches Museum Lebensbeschreibungen und Urkunden - Georg von Reichenbach

Munich: Deutschen Museums, 1912. First Edition.. Contemporary cloth.. A fine copy.. Folio. Frontispiece and 7 plates.

Reichenbach was known as an inventor and designer of astronomical instruments and an engineer. He spent some time in England in the early 1790s where he met Boulton, Watt and Ramsden. He returned to Germany and was commissioned an officer in the Bavarian army engineering corps. By 1805 he was engaged in the construction of high quality instruments at his own works in Munich where he employed Fraunhofer. This was the beginning of the modern era in German instrument making that resulted in devices of unprecedented power and precision. His workshops became national training centers. German technical excellence in the 19th century is a direct result of Reichenbach's intiative. The book offered here is a scientific biography that covers the development of his instrument designs and engineering projects, e.g., his cast iron tube construction of bridges. A superb reference. DSB XI, 354 - 355.