Baltic German inventor
Walter Zapp
(
Latvian
:
Valters Caps
; 4 September [
O.S.
22 August] 1905 – 17 July 2003) was a
Baltic German
inventor.
[1]
His best-known creation was the
Minox
subminiature camera
.
[2]
Over the course of his life, he was granted over 60 patents.
Biography
[
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]
Zapp was born in
Riga
,
Governorate of Livonia
(now
Latvia
) to a
Baltic German
mother and a British father.
[1]
In 1932, while living in
Estonia
, he began developing the then subminiature camera by first creating wooden models, which led to the first prototype in 1936.
[2]
It was introduced to the market in 1938. Minox cameras were made by
VEF
(Valsts Elektrotehnisk? Fabrika) in Latvia. VEF made 17,000 Minox cameras.
During the
Spring 1941 Resettlement of Baltic Germans
, Walter Zapp moved to
Germany
. From 1941 to 1945, he worked on the development of
electron microscopy
at
AEG
in
Berlin
.
After World War II, in 1945, he founded the
Minox GmbH
in
Wetzlar
, Germany. The company still exists.
In 2001, when he went to Latvia for the last time, he said that he had gone to celebrate his 100th birthday in Latvia. He died aged 97, in
Binningen
near
Basel
, Switzerland.
[1]
Patents
[
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]
The innovative design and technical solutions of Zapp's camera were patented around the world. VEF received 66 patents in 18 countries for Zapp's
inventions
.
[3]
Later in the 1960s, Zapp was named as the inventor in several patents granted to Minox GmbH for improvements and modifications of a subminiature camera.
[4]
In the beginning of 90's, Zapp patented his last invention, the Minox T8 pocket telescope.
[5]
Publications
[
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]
Walter Zapp (1944).
"Ein russisches Galvanometer"
.
Physikalische Blatter
(in German).
1
(9): 138?140.
doi
:
10.1002/phbl.19440010907
.
Awards and honors
[
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]
In 2001, Walter Zapp received an
honorary doctorate
of the
Latvian Academy of Sciences
and was decorated with the
Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana
for his special services to the
Republic of Estonia
.
[6]
Eesti Post
has issued a
Europa postage stamp
in 1994 to commemorate Walter Zapp and his patented invention (Estonian patent No. 2628), the
Minox
subminiature camera.
[7]
See also
[
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]
References
[
edit
]
Further reading
[
edit
]
- Morris G. Moses, John Wade.
Spycamera: The Minox Story
. 2nd, illustrated edition. HOVE FOTO BOOKS SATTER Incorporated, 1998.
ISBN
1874707286
,
ISBN
9781874707288
- D. Scott Young.
Minox: Marvel in Miniature
. 1st Books, 2000.
ISBN
1-58721-068-1
- Hubert E. Heckmann.
MINOX The Queen of Spy Cameras, Variations in 8x11
. Wittig Books, 2012.
ISBN
978-3-88984-153-7
External links
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]
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