Successors
Behind the idealized, heroic figure of Fraunhofer, the names of other employees at the Optical Institute faded into the background. Yet even after Fraunhofer’s death, instrument-making at the Optical Institute was successfully continued.
Even when the Optical Institute operated under the name G. & S. Merz, Fraunhofer’s name was initially retained, as seen here on the inscription of a telescope (Inv. No. 33934). Photo: Deutsches Museum | Dirk Dahmer
This is demonstrated by the two microscopes bearing the signatures "G. Merz und Söhne" and "G. & S. Merz," respectively. Georg Merz (1793–1867) had begun working in the glassworks of the Optical Institute in Benediktbeuern shortly after Fraunhofer. He quickly rose to a leading position there, and after Fraunhofer's death in 1826, he took over the management of the business, which had since moved to Munich. In 1839, together with his deputy Josef Mahler, he bought the institute and ran it together with his sons from 1845. Sigmund Merz would eventually inherit it in 1867 following his father's death. It was not until 1932, more than 100 years after Fraunhofer’s death, that the tradition of instrument-making at the Optical Institute came to an end with the insolvency of the Merz company.
