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Ernst Abbe was a physicist, inventor, entrepreneur and social reformer. In all areas in which he was active, he made outstanding achievements and therefore played a decisive role in the technical lead, business success and continued existence of the two companies Carl Zeiss and SCHOTT.
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| Ernst Abbe 1863 | Ernst Abbe 1870 | Ernst Abbe 1875 |
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Abbe was born in Eisenach on 23 January 1840 and grew up in modest circumstances. With the aid of a scholarship, he was able to begin his studies in mathematics and physics. He studied in Jena and Göttingen from 1857 to 1861. In 1863 he qualified as a lecturer in Jena, where he then worked on a private basis.
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| Ernst Abbe 1880 | Ernst Abbe 1888 | Ernst Abbe 1905 |
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Already as a young scientist, Abbe placed his knowledge at the disposal of Carl Zeiss. In 1866 he became a member of Zeiss’ scientific staff. From 1870, Abbe was a professor at the University of Jena. His theory of image formation in the microscope made him the founder of scientific optics and gave Carl Zeiss an important technological lead: while microscopes had been previously built on a trial-and-error basis, they were constructed on a sound mathematical foundation from 1872 onwards and therefore displayed considerably better optical properties. This led to pioneering research in biology and medicine, e.g. by Robert Koch and Paul Ehrlich. In 1876, Zeiss made his committed employee his partner and appointed him as his successor as the head of the company. After the death of the company founder in 1888 and the acquisition of shares from Zeiss’ heirs, Ernst Abbe became the sole director of the enterprise.
Together with Otto Schott, Carl Zeiss and Roderich Zeiss, Abbe founded the Glastechnisches Laboratorium Schott & Genossen in Jena in 1884. The global reputation of SCHOTT as one of the world’s leading manufacturers of specialist glass has its roots in the collaboration of Abbe, Zeiss und Schott.
Abbe was an extremely successful entrepreneur. In 1862, 25 people worked at Carl Zeiss, generating revenues of 12,618 marks. In the year of Ernst Abbe’ death, the enterprise had grown to just under 1,400 employees, with revenues totaling over 5 million marks.
Abbe was a courageous reformer who was far ahead of his times with his socio-political ideas. In order to safeguard the existence of the companies Carl Zeiss and SCHOTT irrespective of personal ownership interests, Abbe founded the Carl Zeiss Foundation in 1889 and made it the sole owner of the Zeiss works and part owner of the SCHOTT works in 1891 (in 1919, Otto Schott also transferred his shares in the glassworks to the Foundation).
With his foundation statutes of 1896, Abbe gave the enterprise a unique corporate constitution. In addition to revolutionary stipulations on corporate management and legally enshrined labor relations, the constitution reflected Abbe’s high degree of social commitment. Some examples include co-determination rights for the employees, paid vacation, profit-sharing, a documented right to retirement pensions, continued payment of wages in the event of illness and, from 1900, the eight-hour working day. This made the foundation companies Carl Zeiss and SCHOTT forerunners of modern social legislation. Abbe’s amazing creative power is impressively underscored in his numerous inventions and in his many publications on scientific, entrepreneurial and social issues. He died in Jena on 14 January 1905.
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