| Description | Aldis introduces himself as sixth wrangler in 1863 and father of Aldis Brothers, Birmingham, lens specialists to the Admiralty and the War Office. He describes both of his sons and their careers, including the younger, A.C.W. Aldis, and his work on motor car lamps, aeroplane signalling lamps and periscopes. He invented a new type of improved signalling lamp for which he has refused to take out a patent, handing it to the War Office. The father's object in writing to Larmor is that it seems disgraceful that Germany is so far ahead in the practical parts of optical science and he suggests that Cambridge should 'bestir itself'. He describes his own routine duties, which freed his son-in-law W.E. Hartley to serve on H.M.S. Africa as a translator. In 1912, with his daughter and eldest son, he worked through calculations which ended in the invention and patenting of the celebrated Aldis f 4.5 lens. The success of this led to Zeiss and Company's futile prosecution. When the war is over, if he can get a co-calculator, he would like to undertake such an eyepiece. The work would imbue some promising young graduate with enthusiasm for practical optics. |