Biography of Anton Braun

Anton (Antonius) Braun Sr. (der Ältere) was born on October 22, 1686, in a family of watchmaker in Möhringen an der Donau (bei Tuttlingen), a small town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Almost nothing is known about his youth. He not only succeeded the trade of watch making from his father, but also became quite skillful in the fields of instrument making, astronomy and optics. It seems he married young (but lost his wife soon), because in 1708 was born his son, Anton Braun Jr. (der Jüngere) (1708-1776), who also became a skillful instrument maker, optician and watchmaker as his father. In 1712 Braun married second time for Maria Magdalena Stein from Ettlingen.

Braun was one of the most prominent instrument makers of his time. It is known that he worked in Prague (1719), Milan (1720), before to settle in Vienna in the beginning of 1720s. In 1724 he received the position the position of Kammeropticus et mathematicus in the court. Three years later, he sat down as a candidate for the post of imperial instrument maker by an impressive number of competitors against. And he won, presenting to the Emperor his advanced calculating machine (see the calculating machines of Braun), which he constructed in 1724 and which was already in use at the imperial court.

Braun apparently got into favor of the Holy Roman Emperor Karl VI, because he was not only appointed as an imperial instrument maker, but was also granted with a 12-diamonds chain, occupied with the portrait of the Emperor (kept now in the Museum in Rathaus Möhringen) and a huge sum of money—10000 guilders. Part of the sum (6000 guilders), Braun left to his wife, the remainder he donated to his home town.

Unfortunately the brilliant mechanician Anton Braun died too young (41 years old) from an infection of the lungs, on 20 April, 1728, in Vienna.