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World famous, astronomer, Photgrapher, and Hungarian. Who is this?

Miklós Konkoly-Thege is well-known mostly for his achievement in astrophysics both in Hungary and abroad.

Miklós Konkoly-Thege (1842–1916) was the founder of the observatory in Ógyalla in 1871 and it was he who established the first museum of meteorology and astronomy in 1896. It is far less known that this outstanding scientist was a qualified skipper, a locomotive engineer and an amateur photographer.
His life and activities link him strongly with several collections of the Hungarian Technical and Transport Museum.

Trail of Objects

When the Museum of Meteorology and Astronomy was closed in 1920 the objects finally ended up in the Technical Museum. Fortunately the relics of his photography also are preserved in the Technical Museum. One of the most interesting instruments of this collection is his so called tourist camera.

Although Konkoly-Thege was mostly interested in the development of photo technology, he was also a master of artistic photos, who realized and used the artistic effects of back-lighting.
Konkoly-Thege took several photos which are important from the point of view of transport history. He wrote a manual titled „Introduction to Photography” to propagate photography and to help amateur photographers. The book was published in 1891.

The Lechner–Müller Camera

Konkoly-Thege’s travelling camera was given to our museum in 1977-ben by the Uránia Observatory. Cameras of this particular type were manufactured since the 1860s, but became highly popular only during the early 1900s.
The camera, which makes photos on a glass plate of 13 × 18 cm, was manufactured around 1895 in the workshop of Rudolf Lechner and Wilhelm Müller. The size of the camera when totally opened is 26 × 21 × 35 cm, when closed - during travelling – is 26 × 21 × 6 cm.

How does it work

The holder of the object-lens is built in the wood-plate. This wood-plate is attached to a telescopic holder made of brown leather. With the modification of the length of the telescope the object-lens moves also – this is how the sharpness of the photo can be adjusted.
The sharpness of the image can be controlled in the back part of the camera house, on a matt glass plate, built in the wooden frame.
The travelling camera of Miklós Konkoly-Thege has been the main attraction of several exhibitions both in Budapest and in the country. Today it can be found among the instruments of photography in the study collection Hungarian Technical and Transport Museum