Information about the Russian optics designer Michael Roosinov (Mikhaïl Rusinov)

[Emmanuel BIGLER]

Most of our readers are probably familiar with the name of Michael Michaelovitch Roosinov, a Russian engineer, a pionner of modern wide angle lenses.

Relevant discussion in the archives :
http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/archive/index.php/t-9784.html
http://photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00O6xC

So far the only information I knew about this inventor was the text of the 1946 US patent
http://www.google.com/patents?id=_vJQAAAAEBAJ&printsec=abstract&zoom=4&dq=2516724

But I'd like to know more about the man. I attempted several Internet searches but all drove me in to endless loops back to the previous references. Then a reader of our French MF/LF forum, Arne, found a reference to a Russian web page.

The name of the inventor is spelled Roosinov Michael Michaelovitch in the US patent.
However a spelling closer to the original Russian name would be: Russinov Mikhaïl Mikhaïlovich (in fact Rusinov is even better, see below)
http://www.russar.spb.ru/img/top.gif

This is the relevant page for those who can read Russian ! (do not forget to switch the settings your web browser to Russian encoding !)
http://www.russar.spb.ru/science_2.html

So, at least I can add a portrait of Mikhaïl Mikhaïlovich Russinov to the gallery I have in my copy of Kinsglake "History of the Photographic lens".
Those of you -- I know you are many ;)-- who maintain a private chapel with a burning candle in front of the Icons of All Saint Optics Designers, besides Saint Paul (Rudolph), Saint Ludwig (Bertele) and Saint Pierre (Angénieux), you shoud add the portrait of: Saint Mikhaïl (Russinov)
http://www.russar.spb.ru/img/rusinov.jpg

And for those who want to read some technical details of the story and the link to Roosinov/Russinov's and Bertele's famous designs, look here;
http://books.google.fr/books?id=OJrJrEJ-r9QC&pg=PA151&lpg=PA151&dq=zeiss+biogon+patent&source=web&ots=YY-n9Ot39B&sig=wXbc2stYZgaYHyVYtAcppnT7Bj8&hl=fr#PPA151,M1

US patent 2734423 by Ludwig Bertele
http://www.google.com/patents?id=9RdRAAAAEBAJ&dq=2734423

[David A. Goldfarb]

The Library of Congress transliteration (without diacritics) of his name would be "Mikhail Mikhailovich Rusinov," so you should find more references searching that way.

[Once]

Well, according to the Russian site, the Russar lens was even better in comparison to the Carl Zeiss Biogonn 21mm /2.8 - more light at the edges and a half of the distortion!
His lens made it even to Mars (was used in a Russian 1996 Mars program). But then, Russians were traditionally very good mathematicians with excellent teaching methods (not to speak about their renowned chess schools - yet another story).

[Emmanuel BIGLER]

Thanks David !
Now with the correct spelling, I was able to found more reference in technical journals, including an obituary,
"Mikhail Mikhailovich Rusinov (2/11/1909 - 9/30/2004)," J. Opt. Technol. 71, 859-860 (2004)

M.M. Rusinov died in 2004, not so long ago.

[Once]

The name of the inventor is spelled Roosinov Michael Michaelovitch in the US patent.
However a spelling closer to the original Russian name would be: Russinov Mikhaïl Mikhaïlovich
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Russinov - well, in French spelling, to avoid the mispronunciation of the single "s" but correctly Rusinov, as the Congress spelling suggests.

[Emmanuel BIGLER]

An automatic translation yields something readable from Russian :

biography page 1 http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.russar.spb.ru%2Fbio_1.html&langpair=ru%7Cen&hl=fr&ie=UTF8
biography page 2 http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.russar.spb.ru%2Fbio_2.html&langpair=ru%7Cen&hl=fr&ie=UTF8
page 3 http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.russar.spb.ru%2Fbio_3.html&langpair=ru%7Cen&hl=fr&ie=UTF8
Among M.M. Rusinov's works, there is a "Songs of Optical Systems"
how poetic ! ;)

[David A. Goldfarb]

Among M.M. Rusinov's works, there is a "Songs of Optical Systems"
how poetic ! ;)

Delightful, but that's really "The Composition of Optical Systems."

The 1992 publication is "Aspheric Surfaces in Optics," and the other one is "The Composition of Asymmetric Optical Systems" (1995).

[Once]

Those of you -- I know you are many ;)-- who maintain a private chapel with a burning candle in front of the Icons of All Saint Optics Designers, besides Saint Paul (Rudolph), Saint Ludwig (Bertele) and Saint Pierre (Angénieux), you shoud add the portrait of: Saint Mikhaïl (Russinov)
http://www.russar.spb.ru/img/rusinov.jpg



In my chapel the gallery of Optics Saints starts with Joseph Petzval - the Slovak/Hungarian/Austrian genius. May he have the eternal Light!

[Emmanuel BIGLER]

I take the liberty to make this post re-surface, since a reader of the French LF forum has pointed to our attention a nice Italian web site created and mainatined by MARCO CAVINA.
You'll find there several interesting articles about Russian lenses and their history (plus many other stories about cult lenses)
http://www.luciolepri.it/lc2/marcocavina/articoli_tecnici_fotografici.htm

[Ernest Purdum]

I went to the Marco Cavina site and was greatly impressed by his research.

[Dr Klaus Schmitt]

My friend Marco does a great job on old lenses and his site is worth having a look at, esp. if you're into Zeiss glass!! Unfortunately he does it in Italian language only and I have not yet succeeded to convince him to do it in English!!