In July 1839, Steinheil demonstrated a photographic process at Nymphenburg Palace in the presence of Queen Therese. Several photographs had been exhibited by Steinheil throughout April and Summer 1839.[1] The process has been commonly attributed to Steinheil, but research published in 2024 revealed that the earliest paper negatives had actually been created by Wolfgang Franz von Kobell in 1837, without any involvement of Steinheil.[2]
Steinheil was one of the first to use the daguerreotype in Germany. By December 1839, he made the first portable metal camera in the world. It was nineteen times smaller than the camera sold by Daguerre. At least ten of these cameras were manufactured.[1][3][4]
Kobell's silver chloride photograph of Frauenkirche from the Old Academy, March 1837[5]
In 1846, Steinheil travelled to Naples to install a new system for weight and measure units. Three years later, he was appointed to the Board of Telegraphy of the Austrian Trade Ministry. Steinheil was tasked with designing a telegraph network for the entire empire, and helped to form the Deutsch-Österreichischer Telegraphenverein (German-Austrian Telegraph Society).
In 1851, he started the Swiss telegraph network. Steinheil returned Munich as konservator (curator) of the mathematical-physical collections and ministerial secretary in the Trade Ministry of Bavaria.[clarification needed]
In 1854, he founded C. A. Steinheil & Söhne, an optical-astronomical company.[3][4] The company built telescopes, spectroscopes and photometers – one of Steinheil's inventions, used to measure brightness. C.A. Steinheil & Söhne produced large telescopes for observatories in Uppsala, Mannheim, Leipzig, Utrecht.[3][4] The company also produced refractors and reflectors with silver-covered mirrors. The process for creating the silvering was developed by Steinheil's friend Justus Liebig. In 1862, Steinheil's sons started managing the company.
Steinheil died in Munich in Bavaria on 14 September 1870. He was buried in the Alter Südfriedhof cemetery.
Some sources state that Steinheilite, a transparent mineral that resembles blue quartz but is actually a form of iolite, was named after Carl von Steinheil.[4] However, the name was in use as early as 1811, too early to be named after Carl von Steinheil, and sources from that time instead attribute it to Fabian Steinheil, the Russian military governor of Finland.[6]
^ abCornwall, James E. (1979). Die Frühzeit der Fotografie in Deutschland 1839 - 1869. Die Männer der ersten Stunden und ihre Verfahren (in German). VWI.
