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The organization
takes its name from Joseph von Fraunhofer
(1787-1826), the illustrious Munich researcher,
inventor and entrepreneur.
Born of a family of modest means, Joseph von Fraunhofer
was a glass-grinding apprentice when discovered by the
privy counsellor Joseph von Utzschneider. He took up
employ in the latter's Optical Institute and, at the age
of 22, became the director of glass manufacturing. He
was responsible for the development of new methods of
glass production and processing.
The optical instruments he himself developed, including
the spectrometer and the diffraction grid, allowed
Fraunhofer to conduct fundamental research in the fields
of light and optics. He was the first to measure the
spectrum of sunlight and characterize the dark
absorption strips it contains: the "Fraunhofer
lines". His independent, autodidactic work
won him great acclaim from industry and government. The
former apprentice became a full member of the Bavarian
Academy of Sciences.
http://www.fraunhofer.de/fhg/EN/company/history/joseph/index.jsp
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