 | In 1893, at the age of 27, he reports on an illumination method he has devised for photomicrography. Known as Köhler illumination, this elaborate method makes it possible for microscopists to use the full resolving power of Abbe's objectives.
It cannot be a mere coincidence: Köhler joins Zeiss, contributes his illumination system, and later is put in charge of microscope development.
To this very day, no other illumination method beats Köhler for optimum results in microscopy.
During this period of breakthrough and upswing, the founder and prime mover of the enterprise leaves his comrades-in-arms: Carl Zeiss dies on December 3, 1888.
The death of Carl Zeiss is a grievous loss. In honor of the name of his friend and partner, Ernst Abbe in 1889 establishes the Carl Zeiss Foundation, and in 1891 transfers to it his shares in the Optical Workshop and the Schott Glassworks, together with those of Roderich, son of Carl Zeiss, and co-partner since 1881.
As much as they miss Carl Zeiss, both as an initiator and a friend, his collaborators carry on the business in his spirit. The last decade of the 19th century is paved with milestones Š inventions and design innovations that already look forward past the turn of the century: Metallographic microscopes, anastigmatic photolenses, binocular microscopes with image-reversing prisms, to name but a few. And then a push forward that is out of the ordinary, even for an enterprise as extraordinary as Zeiss.
1896 is not a year as others. Ernst Abbe meets Horatio S. Greenough, an American biologist. Of course, they cannot help talking shop. Before long, the discussion is focused on a seemingly utopian idea: the construction of a stereoscopic microscope. Utopian? The idea is born under a lucky star. The American visitor draws a promising sketch on a sheet of paper. That's it. Around the turn of the year, Greenough's invention has taken shape as a Zeiss product: the first stereomicroscope ever. | | |