Bernhard Woldemar Schmidt (11 April [O.S. 30 March] 1879, Nargen, Estonia – 1 December 1935, Hamburg) was an Estonian[1] optician. In 1930 he invented the Schmidt telescope, which corrected for the optical errors of spherical aberration, coma, and astigmatism, making possible for the first time the construction of very large, wide-angled reflective cameras of short exposure time for astronomical research.
- ^ Barbara Dufner: Den Himmel fest im Blick. Eine wissenschaftliche Biografie über den Astro-Optiker Bernhard Schmidt. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag 2002, p. 18. There are no traces of German ancestors.