Bernhard Schmidt was a German astronomer and optician, born on March 24, 1879, in Hamburg. He is best known for inventing the Schmidt camera, a type of telescope that uses a unique combination of a spherical mirror and a specially shaped corrector plate. This design allows for wide-field imaging with minimal distortion, making it popular in both amateur and professional astronomy. Schmidt's work significantly advanced the field of astrophotography, enabling clearer and more detailed images of celestial objects. His contributions have had a lasting impact on the study of astronomy, influencing the design of many modern telescopes and observatories.