Spectrophotometer
name: label: maker
content: Franz Schmidt & Haensch
notes: label: Description
content: Friedrich Franz Martens (1873-1939) was a German physicist who, with PhD in hand, found work with Franz Schmidt & Haensch, a major instrument firm in Berlin. An early task involved modifying the spectrophotometer described by Arthur König (1856-1901), another German physicist. Martens announced the new form in 1903. In 1904, visitors to the Franz Schmidt & Haensch display at the International Exhibition held in St. Louis could see a spectrophotometer “according to Arthur König, improved construction, according to Martens.”
label: Description
content: This example began work in the Color Section of the National Bureau of Standards in 1912, and during its long active life-time, N.B.S. staff built and rebuilt housings to control such aspects of the ambient conditions as light, humidity, and temperature. These housings, rather than the spectrophotometer itself, often take pride of place in photographs of the instrument.
label: Description
content: The inscription on the spectrophotometer reads “Franz Schmidt & Haensch / Berlin S.” That on a separate tag reads “IMPORTED BY / JAMES G. BIDDLE / PHILADELPHIA, U.S.A.”
label: Description
content: Ref: F. F. Martens “Über eine Neukonstruktion des Königschen Spektralphotometers,” <i>Annalen der Physik</i> 12 (1903): 984-.
label: Description
content: German Educational Exhibition, World’s Fair, St. Louis, 1904, <i>Scientific Instruments</i> (Berlin, 1904), pp. 125-126.
label: Description
content: K. S. Gibson and H. J. McNicholas, “The Ultra-Violet and Visual Transmission of Eye-Protective Glasses,” <i>Technologic Papers of the Bureau of Standards</i> 119 (1919): 20.
label: Description
content: K. S. Gibson, H. J. McNicholas, E. P. T. Tyndall, and M.K. Frehafer, with W. E. Mathewson, “The Spectral Transmissive Properties of Dyes,” <i>Scientific Papers of the National Bureau of Standards</i> 18 (1922): 121-184.
label: Description
content: Irwin G. Priest, H. J. McNicholas, and M. Katherine Frehafer, “Spectrophotometer,” <i>Journal of the Optical Society of America</i> 8 (1924): 201-212.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Chemistry
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Transfer from National Bureau of Standards
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: CH.335549
label: accession number
content: 1977.0181
label: catalog number
content: 335549
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Spectrophotometer
label: Object Name
content: spectrophotometer
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood, oak (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal, aluminum (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: frame: 139 cm x 64.5 cm x 64.8 cm; 54 3/4 in x 25 3/8 in x 25 1/2 in
label: Measurements
content: scope box: 49.5 cm x 30.5 cm x 44.5 cm; 19 1/2 in x 12 in x 17 1/2 in
label: Measurements
content: overall: 170 cm x 86.5 cm x 135 cm; 66 15/16 in x 34 1/16 in x 53 5/32 in
label: Measurements
content: table: 80 cm x 64.8 cm x 55.3 cm; 31 1/2 in x 25 1/2 in x 21 3/4 in
label: Measurements
content: overall: 74 in x 36 in x 36 in; 187.96 cm x 91.44 cm x 91.44 cm