Who was Carl Zeiss?

Little is known about what Carl Zeiss was like as a person. Records suggest that his elder brother’s wife introduced him to the family of a clergyman named Schatter who lived in the town of Neunhofen in Thuringia. On 29 May 1849 Zeiss married the clergyman’s daughter, Bertha Schatter.

Years later Zeiss confided in his friend K.O. Beck that he had made a good choice in his union with Bertha, even though the bride had virtually no wealth of her own. The couple’s wedded bliss was short-lived, however: Bertha died aged 22 the day after giving birth to her first son Roderich on 23 February 1850. She was just 22 years old.

In July 1858 Carl Zeiss was appointed deputy master of weights and measures by the Grand Ducal Office of Weights and Measures in Weimar. As such, he was tasked with overseeing weights and measures in and around the city of Jena. In September 1860, he was named university mechanic.

Further proof of his growing reputation came in 1863 when he was named grand ducal court mechanic. From 1863 to 1867, he was a member of the Jena local council. At the same time, he became a volunteer in charge of donations and funds for local welfare. 

1866 was the most successful year for Carl Zeiss since he established his company. 192 microscopes were produced – 81 more than in the previous year. In other words, Carl Zeiss was already a successful businessman and a highly respected citizen when he approached another key turning point in his life.

Carl Zeiss made many attempts to put microscope lenses on a scientific basis. The experiments conducted by Friedrich Wilhelm Barfuß; did not produce any workable results.

In 1866 he joined forces with Ernst Abbe.

Abbe initially focused the development of different measuring instruments to more precisely determine the optical characteristics of lenses – a key requirement for rational production.

Further steps were taken to separate mechanical and optical production. At the same time, Abbe constructed new illumination apparatus. 

He made his first forays into lens design in 1869 – but this task proved to be a difficult one. A lengthy process of calculations and experiments was necessary to help the Zeiss workshop make up for their lack of experience vis-à-vis their long-established competitors and ultimately outperform them.

On 12 September 1871, Abbe presented his design plan for a powerful water immersion objective lens. From 1872 onwards, all microscope lenses were produced in line with Abbe’s designs.

The diagram shows the key locations where these microscopes were sold during the two periods of 1847 to 1869 and 1870 to 1889. The majority of orders in the first 20 years came from ducal towns in and around Jena and some German university towns and centers of commerce. Occasional sales were also made to areas which at that time formed part of Russia, in many cases facilitated by graduates of Jena University. The second period is dominated by major bastions of science and key centers of trade and commerce in western Europe. New York also appears, and an increasing role was played by wholesalers in places such as Cambridge and Delft.

1847 –1869 1,308 microscopes
1870 –1889 13,228 microscopes

Source: ZEISS Archives BACZ 7710-7713.
(Photo: Map of Europe, 1890, source: GEI-Digital: http://gei-digital.gei.de/viewer/resolver?urn=urn:nbn:de:0220-gd-9923482)

On 27 May 1879, Ernst Abbe received a letter from young chemist Otto Schott (1851–1935), who spoke of a new kind of glass he had created. Until then, ordinary glass had been used to produce lenses. Now, the opportunity presented itself to develop special, optical glass. He sent these samples to Jena, where their suitability for optical purposes was assessed.

In January 1882 a glass technology laboratory was set up in Jena. In late 1882, Schott relocated to Jena. The funds to purchase a plot of land for Schott in Jena were mustered up by Carl Zeiss, and the laboratory experiments had been financed by Abbe since 1882. It didn’t take long for Schott to achieve some remarkable progress, however. 

He succeeded in controlling the properties of the optical glass, which was initially produced in small quantities, and also in manufacturing samples with no impurities or internal stresses. Zeiss made the first microscope lens using Schott glass in the fall of 1883. The results were extraordinary, offering a tantalizing glimpse of the remarkable improvements in optical instruments that could conceivably be achieved with the new material.

On 23 July 1885 the company "Jenaer Glaswerk Schott & Genossen" was established. Its partners were Carl and Roderich Zeiss, Ernst Abbe and Otto Schott. The new company’s main line of business would later be heat-resistant lenses.

Carl Zeiss's great-great-granddaughter studied microbiology in Kiel and Miami, and obtained her doctorate Göttingen (Dr. rer. nat.)

She worked in Research, Development and Quality Management at different pharmaceuticals. Today, she advises companies on the production of pharmaceutical and medical technology products and devices.