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Dollond was the son of a Huguenot refugee, a silk-weaver at Spitalfields, London, where he was born. He followed his father's trade, but found time to acquire a knowledge of Latin, Greek, mathematics, physics, anatomy and other subjects. In 1752 he abandoned silk-weaving and joined his eldest son, Peter Dollond (1730-1820), who in 1750 had started in business as a maker of optical instruments. His reputation grew rapidly, and in 1761 he was appointed optician to the king.

In 1758 he published an Account of some experiments concerning the different refrangibility of light (Phil. Trans., 1758), describing the experiments that led him to the achievement with which his name is specially associated, the discovery of a means of constructing achromatic lenses by the combination of crown and flint glasses. Leonhard EulerLeonhard Euler ( April 15, 1707 September 18, 1783) (pronounced "oiler") was a Swiss mathematician and physicist. He is considered (together with Gauss) to be one of the two greatest mathematicians. Leonhard Euler was the first to use the term " function" in 1747 had suggested that achromatism might be obtained by the combination of glass and water lenses. Relying on statements made by Sir Isaac NewtonKneller's portrait of 1689. Sir Isaac Newton ( December 25, 1642 March 20, 1727 by the Julian calendar then in use; or January 4, 1643 March 31, 1727 by the Gregorian calendar) was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, philosopher, and alchemis, Dollond disputed this possibility (Phil. Trans., 1753), but subsequently, after the SwedishThe Kingdom of Sweden Konungariket Sverige in Swedish) is a Nordic country in Scandinavia, in Northern Europe. It is bordered by Norway on the west, Finland on the northeast, the Skagerrak and the Kattegat on the southwest, and the Baltic Sea and the Gulf physicist, Samuel Klingenstjerna (1698-1765), had pointed out that Newton's law of dispersion did not harmonize with certain observed facts, he began experiments to settle the question.

Early in 1757 he succeeded in producing refraction without colour by the aid of glass and water lenses, and a few months later he made a successful attempt to get the same result by a combination of glasses of different qualities (see History of telescopesThe credit for the invention of the telescope has been a subject of discussion. Thus, because Democritus announced that the Milky Way is composed of vast multitudes of stars, it has been maintained by some that he could only have been led to form such an). For this achievement the Royal SocietyThe Royal Society of London is claimed to be the oldest learned society still in existence and was founded in 1660. The Royal Irish Academy, founded in 1782, is also closely affiliated with it. The Royal Society of Edinburgh (founded 1783) is a separate S awarded him the Copley MedalThe Copley Medal is a scientific award for work in any field of science, the highest award granted by the Royal Society of London. It is also the society's oldest award, the first medal being awarded in 1731. The award was created after a £100 bequest in in 1758, and three years later elected him one of its fellows. Dollond also published two papers on apparatus for measuring small angles (Phil. Trans., 1753, 1754).

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica. 1911 Britannica