Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung

The aims of the foundation companies Carl Zeiss, Oberkochen and Schott Glaswerke in Mainz are: to develop, produce and sell high-quality products in the field of optics, precision engineering, electronics and precision glass technology on national and international markets; to provide their employees with exemplary social benefits; to allow their employees to develop their capabilities to the full; to promote important work in science and technology and to participate in projects of general social value. These aims and the following principles determine the policy of the foundation companies: science and technology complement each other; science, technology and economics serve man and not vice versa; economic stability safeguards jobs; the company and its employees are mutually dependent. Science, progressive technology and social responsibility are therefore the main objectives behind the activities of the Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung. Key Dates: Working for Zeiss, Ernst Abbe develops the wave theory of microscopic imaging and designs the first microscopes based on this theory. The Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung is made the sole owner of the Zeiss works and a partner in the Schott glass works. Abbe formulates the aims and principles of the Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung in the foundation's statute. Schott turns over his share of the glass works to the Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung. Following board and workforce resistance, the Nazi foundation deputy is ousted from his post and replaced by Abraham Esau, a professor loyal to the Stiftung. Following World War II, the Allies bring the entire management and the leading scientists of the Stiftung enterprises to Heidenheim. The two Jena-based enterprises are expropriated by the East Germans and turned into state-owned entities, including VEB Carl Zeiss Jena. Schott Glass Technologies Inc. is founded in Duryea, Pennsylvania, for the production of optical glass. An agreement is reached between the east and west branches of the Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung regarding the worldwide use of the Zeiss name. Reunification of Germany sets the stage for the reuniting of eastern and western Carl Zeiss enterprises; Carl Zeiss Jena is converted into a limited company, Jenoptik Carl Zeiss Jena GmbH. Jenoptik Carl Zeiss sheds its nonoptical activities and changes its name to Carl Zeiss Jena GmbH; Carl Zeiss, Oberkochen, gains 51 percent stakes in Carl Zeiss Jena and Jenaer Glaswerk, marking the beginning of the reuniting of the Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung. Carl Zeiss, Oberkochen, gains full control of Carl Zeiss Jena and Jeaner Glaswerk. The origins of the Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung date from 1846, when Carl Zeiss, later awarded the title of university mechanic by the Grand Duke of Sachsen-Weimar, opened an instrument maker's shop in Jena. He soon specialized in the manufacture of microscopes. At the request of Carl Zeiss, the physicist Ernst Abbe developed the wave theory of microscopic imaging and, based on this theory, designed instruments with better resolution power and better color rendition than was hitherto possible. These improved microscopes sold from 1872, and--in particular microscopes with homogenous immersion objectives, introduced in 1877, and those with apochromatic objectives, available in 1886--greatly assisted bacteriologists' identification of infectious bacteria. Abbe's achievements as a social reformer of employment conditions were as significant as his scientific innovations. In 1889, the year following the death of Carl Zeiss, Abbe founded the Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung, which in 1891 he made the sole owner of the Zeiss works and a partner in the Schott works. In 1919 Schott made his own share of the glass works available to the Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung, which thus became the sole owner of both enterprises. In the 1896 statute of the Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung, Ernst Abbe formulated its aims and principles. The guiding principle of the Zeiss and Schott works and their associated enterprises throughout the world was to secure their economic, sc