George Dollond was an English optician who constructed optical precision instruments used in astronomy

Astronomy

Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...

, geodesy

Geodesy

Geodesy , also named geodetics, a branch of earth sciences, is the scientific discipline that deals with the measurement and representation of the Earth, including its gravitational field, in a three-dimensional time-varying space. Geodesists also study geodynamical phenomena such as crustal...

 and also in navigation. Together with Peter Barlow, he also invented an afocal system

Afocal system

In optics an afocal system is an optical system that produces no net convergence or divergence of the beam, i.e. has an infinite effective focal length. This type of system can be created with a pair of optical elements where the distance between the elements is equal to the sum of each element's...

 to extend the focal length of telescope

Telescope

A telescope is an instrument that aids in the observation of remote objects by collecting electromagnetic radiation . The first known practical telescopes were invented in the Netherlands at the beginning of the 1600s , using glass lenses...

s, called the Barlow lens

Barlow lens

The Barlow lens, named for its creator, the English engineer Peter Barlow, is a diverging lens which, used in series with other optics in an optical system, increases the effective focal ratio of an optical system as perceived by all components after it in the system...

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He was born in London, the nephew of the famous optician Peter Dollond

Peter Dollond

Peter Dollond was an English maker of optical instruments, the son of John Dollond. He is known for his successful optics business, and for the invention of the apochromat.-Biography:...

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He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in December, 1819.