Editing Joseph von Fraunhofer (section)

==Biography==
Joseph Fraunhofer was the 11th child, born into a [[Roman Catholic]] family<ref>{{Cite web |title=Society of Catholic Scientists |url=https://www.catholicscientists.org/catholic-scientists-of-the-past/joseph-von-fraunhofer |access-date=2022-06-16 |website=www.catholicscientists.org}}</ref> in [[Straubing]], in the [[Electorate of Bavaria]], to Franz Xaver Fraunhofer and Maria Anna Fröhlich.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers |last=Hockey |first=Thomas |date=2009 |publisher=[[Springer Publishing]] |isbn=978-0-387-31022-0 |access-date=22 August 2012 |url=http://www.springerreference.com/docs/html/chapterdbid/58484.html |archive-date=25 July 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130725210920/http://www.springerreference.com/docs/html/chapterdbid/58484.html |url-status=live }}</ref> His father and paternal grandfather Johann Michael had been master glassmakers in Straubing. Fröhlich's family also came from a lineage of glassmakers going back to the 16th century.  He was orphaned at the age of 11 and started working as an apprentice to a harsh glassmaker named Philipp Anton Weichelsberger.<ref name="Jackson2000">{{cite book|author=Myles W. Jackson|title=Spectrum of Belief: Joseph Von Fraunhofer and the Craft of Precision Optics|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VJ6SE3sbxDsC|year=2000|publisher=MIT Press|isbn=978-0-262-10084-7|chapter=Chapter 1: Introduction|pages=1–16}}</ref><ref name="Kleppner"/> In 1801, the workshop in which he was working collapsed, and he was buried in the rubble. The rescue operation was led by [[Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria|Prince-Elector Maximilian Joseph]]. The prince entered Fraunhofer's life, providing him with books and forcing his employer to allow the young Fraunhofer time to study.<ref name="Jackson2000"/><ref name="Kleppner"/>

Joseph Utzschneider, a [[Privy council|privy councilor]], was also at the site of the disaster, and would also become a benefactor to Fraunhofer. With the money given to him by the prince upon his rescue and the support he received from Utzschneider, Fraunhofer was able to continue his education alongside his practical training.<ref>Ralf Kern: Wissenschaftliche Instrumente in ihrer Zeit. Band 4: Perfektion von Optik und Mechanik. Cologne, 2010. 355–356.</ref> In 1806, Utzschneider and [[Georg von Reichenbach]] brought Fraunhofer into their Institute at [[Benediktbeuern Abbey#From secularisation to 1930|Benediktbeuern]], a secularised [[Benedictine]] monastery devoted to glassmaking. There he discovered how to make fine optical glass and invented precise methods for measuring [[dispersion (optics)|optical dispersion]].<ref name="Kleppner"/>

It was at the Institute that Fraunhofer met [[Pierre-Louis Guinand]] ([[:de:Pierre-Louis Guinand|de]]), a Swiss glass technician, who instructed Fraunhofer in glassmaking at Utzschneider's behest.<ref name=plicht/> By 1809, the mechanical part of the Optical Institute was chiefly under Fraunhofer's direction, and Fraunhofer became one of the members of the firm that same year.<ref name=amer>{{Cite Americana|wstitle=Fraunhofer, Joseph von|year=1920|vb=1}}</ref> In 1814, Guinand left the firm, as did  Reichenbach. Guinand would later become a partner with Fraunhofer in the firm,<ref name=plicht>{{Cite book|url=http://www.plicht.de/chris/35fraunh.htm|title=Fraunhofer, Joseph von (1787–1826)|access-date=26 March 2011|publisher=plicht.de|bibcode=2000eaa..bookE3630.|year=2000|archive-date=16 May 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110516022047/http://www.plicht.de/chris/35fraunh.htm|url-status=dead}} {{in lang|en}}</ref> and the name was changed to Utzschneider-und-Fraunhofer. During 1818, Fraunhofer became the director of the Optical Institute. Due to the fine optical instruments developed by Fraunhofer, Bavaria overtook England as the center of the optics industry. Even the likes of [[Michael Faraday]] were unable to produce glass that could rival Fraunhofer.<ref name="Jackson2000"/><ref name="Kleppner">{{cite journal|title=The Master of Dispersion|author=Daniel Kleppner|journal=[[Physics Today]]|year=2005|volume=58|issue=11|doi=10.1063/1.2155731|page=10|bibcode=2005PhT....58k..10K|author-link=Daniel Kleppner}}</ref>

His illustrious career eventually earned him an [[honorary doctorate]] from the [[University of Erlangen]] in 1822. In 1824, Fraunhofer was appointed a [[Order of Merit of the Bavarian Crown|Knight of the Order of Merit of the Bavarian Crown]] by [[Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria|King Maximilian I]], through which he was raised into personal nobility (with the title "Ritter von", i.e. knight). The same year, he was also made an honorary citizen of [[Munich]].{{cn|date=June 2022}}

Like many [[glassmaker]]s of his era, he was poisoned by [[heavy metals|heavy metal]] vapors, resulting in his premature death. Fraunhofer died in 1826 at the age of 39. His most valuable glassmaking recipes are thought to have gone to the grave with him.<ref name="Jackson2000"/>