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.