Astro-Gesellschaft Bielicke & Co History Timeline
(1945-1991)

Astro’s factory (Neukölln Lahnstraße 25-27) sustained damage from the Battle of Berlin. The building survived and is still standing today.

Bielicke passed away at 23. September 1945 at the age of 63 in St. Hedwig Krankenhaus.

Astro relocated to Berlin Friedenau Schmargendorfer Straße 32. The building is today the Jamaican Embassy
Location on Google Maps

Astro-Berlin struggles to stay alive and keep their skilled workers after the war by constructing unrelated items.

Birth of Jörg Hendrik Otto, son of Fritz Joachim Otto.

Gramatzki leaves the company as a partner.

After the Currency Reform of 1948, Astro-Berlin started production of optical equipment again.

Tachonar 25, 50 and 75mm f/1 is mentioned in indexed sources; it also mentions Gauss-Tachar as a new “Astro-lenses”. In a french source from 1950 it cites from Foto-Kino-Technik, No. 7, July 1950 that it was originally calculated by Bielicke, most likely in or right before 1942. It was originally intended for photography of curves on cathode-ray oscilloscopes and for radioscopic photography.
Source: Der Augenoptiker – 1949
Source: Science et industries photographiques – 1950
Source: Foto-Kino-Technik – Volume 4, Issues 1-9 – Page 223

According to www.stereoskopie.com, thirty Voigtländer stereo cameras were made with three Astro Gauss-Tachar 32mm f/2 lenses on each camera. These lenses appear to be coated. It’s debated when Astro first started coating their optics.

Astro-Fernbildlinse starts to appear in ads in the famous weekly Popular Photography magazine with the headline “Available for the first time since 1941”. Sterling-Howard Company also writes in the ad that they have an exclusive deal with Astro-Berlin to bring these lenses to the US market.

Foto-Kino-Technik, Volume 4, Issues 1-9 (1950)
Article about Astro-Tachonar and Gauss-Tachar:

A super-bright lens

Astro-Gesellschaft Bielicke & Co., Berlin-Friedenau, has released a new super-bright lens, the Tachonar, with a relative aperture of f/1.0. According to its type, the Astro-Tachonar is a triplet with a split front lens. By using nearly aplanatic surfaces and highly refractive glasses, spherical aberrations are minimised to a minimum. This results in particularly good resolution, which, according to the manufacturer’s information, performed extraordinarily well compared to other highly luminous lenses when comparing the 25mm focal length. The cut-off distance is 35% of the focal length. The installation of the lenses is naturally somewhat hindered by this, just as some subjects are not so well suited for full aperture use. However, the outstanding brightness allows for nighttime street scene shots without additional lighting. By stopping down, the sharpness increases, so that the lens can be used under such conditions as a universal lens of corresponding brightness. Its original field of application is film shooting under unfavourable lighting conditions, + 10‰ 0 10 ° 18 ° 1-10‰ 0 Distortion 1:1 18 1:1.41 -1.0 +1.0 Spherical aberration 10° +1.0 Astigmatism screen image and oscillograph shots. It is supplied in focal lengths of 25, 50, and 75mm.

The deceased co-founder of Astro – Gesellschaft, F.W. Bielicke, developed the Gauss-Tachar f/2 specifically for cinema shots. Six focal lengths are now available: 25, 32, 40, 50, 75, and 100mm. Its good, high-contrast image rendition increasingly gains popularity among owners of small-format cameras. The short focal lengths have a wide-angle character, while the 50 and 75mm focal lengths cover the double film format with impeccable sharpness. The largest focal length perfectly captures the 6×9 format. The individual lenses have very thin glass thicknesses and weak curvatures. This suppresses reflections, and the absorption of light in the glass is low. It practically only occurs in ultraviolet and thus contributes to the tonal correctness of color shots. The cutoff distance is 75% of the focal length, so that the lenses can easily be adapted to all professional cameras of cinematography. It will be particularly valuable for the large part of photo enthusiasts who own a 35mm camera without a built-in rangefinder and who value flawless shots.

Dr. Walter Otto dies at the age of only 59.

Gauss-Tachar is trademarked with a logo by Mycro camera Co. Inc. (US No. 630336) Claims used since March 1951. (Official gazette of the United States Patent Office 668 1953).

In 1951 Leiv Harang published the book The aurorae where he talks about both the Astro R.K. f/1.25 lens and the Astro Tachon 52mm f/0.95 lens being used in the early to late 1930s for northern lights research.

In Optical Spectra from 1967 it’s stated that Mycro Camera Co., Inc., New York, N. Y. in early 1952 signed a special sales agreement with Astro-Berlin. Mycro later changed to Ercona Corp. These seem to be the main sellers of Gauss-Tachar and other Astro lenses in the US market up until the 1980s. Sterling-Howard Corp., New York also had distributor rights for lenses like the Gauss-Tachar.

Walter Otto’s son Fritz Joachim Otto takes over Astro-Berlin. (Source: Kino-Technik Volume 16 1962).

Siemens 2000 16mm film projector is released and Astro-Kino-Color IV lenses become standard issue lenses. Lenses available were 25/35/50/65/75/85/100mm.

An article was published Die Sterne about Gramatzki’s life:

Dr. H. J. Gramatzki 70 YEARS OLD

By E. MÄDLOW, Berlin

Hugh Iwan Gramatzki was born on August 12, 1882, in a remote town of the great Indian Empire as the son of a German government official serving in English services and his English wife. His birth was marked by the great September comet of 1882; although this phenomenon is unlikely to have had much influence on his later life — he himself “cannot recall it anymore,” as he writes — the legendary and foreign exotic environment in which he spent almost the first one and a half decades of his life. He described his youth in India in the 1929 novel “The White Beast,” and the memory of it speaks not only from his reports and stories when one gets chatting with him, but his entire way of thinking and acting is characterized by a strangely foreign aspect that may have its origin in the unforgettable environment of his early years. In 1896, Gramatzki came to Germany, attended the Technical University in Karlsruhe, passed his final exam in 1907, and obtained his doctorate in Berlin in 1937. His areas of specialization are mathematics, geometric optics, and electrophysics. He has achieved remarkable success in all three branches of research. In 1928, he published a “non-Archimedean mathematics” as a counterpart to non-Euclidean geometry, which earned him the recognition of Professor Albert Einstein. In the field of optics, he is regarded as the creator of a large number of particularly bright photo and projection lenses, for the evaluation of which he founded the “Astro Society” in Berlin. He fell in love with astronomy when, according to his own memories, at the age of 14 in Munich, he observed Saturn through an amateur telescope. Through his skills in the field of optics, he has since provided the amateur world with a rich expansion of its instrumentation. Mention should be made in this regard of his ultramicrotome, in which stars to be measured are drawn into fine lines by cylindrical lenses, allowing for much greater separation and measurement accuracy than round diffraction patterns; furthermore, the extrafocal photometer, in which the extrafocal star images are compared with the constantly illuminated surface of a radioactive preparation; and finally, his pioneering experiments in amateur lunar and planetary photography. But beyond that, he has always been extremely productive with useful ideas in various fields; recently, he published his surface photometer for planetary photometry at this point. Although sometimes the demands Gramatzki places on amateurs may seem somewhat high, his suggestions are always extremely valuable and also capable of significantly enriching the instrumentation of professional astronomy. In terms of observation, Gramatzki became known for his observations of Mars in 1924 and especially for his successful color photographs of the total lunar eclipse on March 2-3, 1942. But even in this field, his activity goes far beyond what can be listed here in a short space. His – certainly not even complete – list of publications includes 28 smaller publications and journal articles from all areas of science he pursued; in addition, there are five books, four of which are written for the amateur world. Dr. Gramatzki owns a well-equipped observatory in Kleinmachnow near Berlin, whose main instruments are an 8″ Newtonian and a 120mm astrograph. We can only convey to him our wish for his 70th birthday that he may be granted many more years — perhaps decades? — at this place, in beautiful companionship with his esteemed wife, to work for the benefit of science and amateur astronomy.

The logo and brand Astro is trademarked (SN. 652315) (Owner of Reg. No. 573257).

Astro-Berlin attends Photokina, Koln, Germany. Showing their 1000mm Fernbildlinse.

The lens Astro Fernbildlinse attached to the Identoskop appears in the opening scenes of the movie Η ΩΡΑΙΑ ΤΩΝ ΑΘΗΝΩΝ (The Beauty of Athens).

Lens name Astroflex is trademarked (No. 681809).

Telastan is first mentioned in indexed sources.

Astro-Berlin appears in Filmwoche 1956 with the article named “Exports to almost every country in the world” where they talk about among other things their Gauss-Tachar lens series.

Gramatzki is mentioned one year before his death in Who’s who in Germany:

GRAMATZKI, Hugo John (Dr. phil.), astronomer; born in Shillong, Assam, East India, on August 12, 1882; son of Emil G. (Assistant Secretary of Assam Public Works Department) and Martha Hensel; married Elsa Suchland in 1932. Education: Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Berlin University. Career: Head of the Scientific Department at the Astronomical Society, Berlin; scientific collaborator at the Institute of Physics, Berlin University, and the German Academy of Sciences, Berlin; chief of the Kleinmachnow Astronomical Observatory. Publications: “Probleme der konstruktiven Optik” (1954); “Der Alltag lehrt uns Optik” (1954). Awards: Gold Medal for Art and Technology, Paris, 1937. Membership: International Astronomical Society (Germany). Address: 8 Machnower, Busch, Kleinmachnow – Potsdam.

Dr. Hugh Ivan Gramatzki dies at the age of 75 in Kleinmachnow. He was born in Shillong, India.

Kino-Technik writes a small article about his life and passing:

Dr. H. J. Gramatzki Passed Away

On March 15, 1957, Dr. H. J. Gramatzki passed away unexpectedly in Berlin. With him, the cinema technology and optical science lose one of their most outstanding experts, researchers, and technicians, who was well known far beyond the borders of Germany. Hugh John Gramatzki was born on August 12, 1882, in Shillon, British East India. He attended a humanistic gymnasium in Munich until the Obersekunda. At this point, due to the early death of his father, he had to leave school and abandon his plan to study astronomy. Despite this disappointment, H. J. Gramatzki continued his path with determination and later completed his studies at the Technical University in Karlsruhe, graduating with a state examination. Many years later, he earned his Ph.D. at the Friedrich-Wilhelm University in Berlin with majors in mathematics and astronomy. In 1922, Dr. Gramatzki, along with Chief Optical Engineer W. F. Bielicke and Dr. W. Otto, founded the Astro-Gesellschaft, which has since become a leading company in the optical industry. In 1937, he received the Golden Diploma of Honor from the French Republic at the World Exhibition in Paris for a special construction in the optical field. After leaving Astro-Gesellschaft in 1945, he became the scientific director of a research institute. Finally, Dr. Gramatzki operated an observatory near Berlin. His publications in the fields of mathematics, electricity, astronomy, and astro-photography are numerous. He also holds several patents for optical devices.

Popular Photography –  jan 1957 writes about the new Astro-Telastan 2000mm f/10 lens at Photokina Cologne.

In the book titled Archiv für technisches Messen it mentions a modified Pan-Tachar lens with an inbuilt shutter for X-ray use:

Pan-Tachar from Astro, a four-lens special lens for X-ray and projection technology. Its focal length at a focal ratio of 1 : 1.8 is f = 150 mm . A shutter for time and moment is built into the lens. The aperture ratio can be reduced to 1:16 by means of a diaphragm to achieve a large depth of field (e.g. when simultaneously recording a grid in front of the fluorescent screen).

Astro-Berlin attends the International Photo Fair at Olympia, the image shows Miss Manil Weerakoon, a Singhalese actress. Astro-Berlin 1000mm Fernbildlinse.

From Kino-Technik talking about Astro at Photokina:

“Astro-Gesellschaft Bielicke & Co., Berlin, presented lenses for standard film projection at “Photokina,” which are the result of several years of development work. The correction state, adapted to each focal length, combines the contrast of the Petzval lens with the edge sharpness of the anastigmat, achieving optimal performance in focal lengths from 40 to 150 mm. The systems of the Astro – Kino VI and V series will be used wherever a high aperture ratio of 1:2 is required for projection lenses, alongside the shortest focal length. With the Astro – Kino IV, a cost-effective lens was created by reducing the aperture to 1:2.7 and forgoing particularly short focal lengths. For film recording, Astro provides its well-known high-performance lenses Gauß – Tachar, Tachar, Telastan, and the proven telephoto lenses. All are manufactured in standard mounts and also in special mounts for Arriflex cameras. To relieve the lens mount when using long focal length systems, the Astro support bridge was created. It is supplied in three versions, each tailored to the camera and lens used.”

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s the Fernbildlinse gains popularity and becomes one of their most sold lenses.

A modernised photochronograph
K. Schriever
Explosivstoffe March 1961 2 (3) 55-60

Description of a hollow drum photochronograph. The camera has an objective “Astro Tachar” 1:1.8 with a focal length of 150mm and works at film speeds of up to 200m/sec. The dimensions of the film are 100x1000mm. The number of revolutions is electromagnetically recorded by a time recorder on the film by light impulses. Several examples of application are described and the evaluation of the pictures is explained by an example.

“The chronograph is equipped with an Astro Tachar lens, f/1.8 with a focal length of 150 mm. The high light intensity of the optics allows for successful capturing of even weaker light phenomena. The built-in Compound shutter has exposure times from 1 second to 1/50 second in the “M” position, as well as the “B” and “T” settings. A 45° mirror reflects the image onto the inside of the drum, where the film is attached. The exit opening of the angle mirror is fitted with a slit diaphragm to prevent disturbing side effects when recording time-distance diagrams. If individual exposures with a stationary film or series exposures with spark flash illumination with a moving film are to be made, the slit diaphragm can be removed by loosening a clamping band.”

TV-Tachar is first mentioned in indexed sources (Kino-Technik Volume 16). It’s described as newly developed.

Astro Pan-Tachar 150mm f/1.8 was used for photographing meteor related phenomenas. This is documented in “Meteoor” by Nederlandse Vereniging voor Weer- en Sterrenkunde. Werkgroep Meteoren.

“Besides the camera in Nieuw Milligen, we also used a 35mm camera (Steinheil Cassar f/2.8, f = 45mm) with HP3 film, and an Astro Pan-Tachar lens (f/1.8, f=150mm) with 9x12cm HP3 plates. We borrowed this last camera from Mr. D. Tops in Amsterdam, for which we thank him here. For changing the photographic plates, we needed a darkroom in Nieuw Milligen. For this, we used a large suitcase that was half-open and wrapped with cloth. Through an opening, which could be closed with a zipper, the plate holder could be brought into the suitcase. Sleeves were attached to the cloth, allowing one to insert their arms into the suitcase. This made it possible to fill the plate holder with an unexposed plate in the dark (at night). For precise timing and to study the delay of a meteor in the atmosphere, a rotating sector with a high and accurately known speed (50 to 100 shieldings per second) is necessary. However, for the K-37, a sector diameter between 50 and 100 cm is required. Creating such a sector requires much more than a bicycle dynamo and a piece of aluminum plate. Therefore, we did not succeed in getting a sector ready in time.”

Gordon Cooper on the Mercury-Atlas 9 used a modified Robot Recorder with an Astro-Berlin Tachon 52mm f/0.95 for dim light photography.

in NASA Technical Note writes about an experimental TV-system where they use an Astro-Berlin Pan-Tachar 150mm f/1.8 lens.

Astro-Berlin Tachon 65mm f/0.75 is first mentioned in indexed sources, it’s likely a few years older than this.

Astro-Berlin Fernbildlinse is used for parts of the movie The Raging Moon (1971) with director Bryan Forbes.

Renowned photographer David Douglas Duncan (D.D.D.) publishes a book titled “Prismatics: Exploring A New World”. Where he used a custom modified Astro Pan-Tachar 150mm f/1.8 he nicknamed “the bazooka” to hold his expensive prism attachments.

The Astro-Berlin facilities are photographed by Philip Israelson. Notably photographing the construction of various lenses including the rare Flugbild-Tachar lenses. These photographs are available today at Landesarchiv Berlin.

Lens name Telastan is trademarked (No. 1054588).

Fritz Joachim Otto is photographed at Ilsensteinweg 16 c (Zehlendorf) by Horst Siegmann. These photographs are available today at Landesarchiv Berlin.

Astro-Berlin is dismantled.

Some employees from Astro-Berlin started EKOS GmbH, Berlin, and acquired the rights to the know-how/technical drawings. This company lasted until around 2020. EKOS stands for Entwichlungund Konstruktion Optischer Systeme (Design and construction of optical systems).