Abbe was born on 23 Jan 1840 in Eisenach, Grand Duchy
of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (today Thueringen - a region in
Germany) and died on 14 Jan 1905 in Jena, Germany.
He studied at the University of Jena and the
University of Goettingen, receiving his doctorate from
Goettingen in 1861 with a dissertation on thermodynamics.
In 1863 he joined the teaching staff at the University of
Jena and he presented the paper Ueber die
Gesetzmässigkeit in der Vertheilung bei
Beobachtungsreihen for his teaching
Abbe was appointed professor of physics and
mathematics at Jena
in 1870 and, in 1878, he was appointed director of the
astronomical observatory at Jena and of the
meteorological observatory at Jena. He had been
approached by Carl
Zeiss in 1866 with various optical problems. This
turned his attention towards optics and astronomy. In
addition to his university posts, Abbe was made research
director of the Zeiss optical works in 1866.
In 1868 he invented the apochromatic lens system for
the microscope. This important breakthrough eliminates
both the primary and secondary colour distortion of
Other optical advances which Abbe made include a
clearer theoretical understanding of limits to
magnification and the discovery the Abbe sine condition,
as it is called today, which gives conditions on a lens
for it to form a sharp image, without the defects of coma
and spherical aberration.
He also made practical improvements in microscope
design including, in 1870, the use of a condenser to give
a high-powered even illumination of the field of view.
The Carl Zeiss Foundation describes Abbe's work at this
time as follows:
One year after beginning the manufacture of
the Carl Zeiss compound microscope, in 1873, Herr Abbe
released a scientific paper describing the mathematics
leading to the perfection of this wonderful invention.
For the first time in optical design, aberration,
diffraction and coma were described and understood.
Abbe described the optical process so well that this
paper has become the foundation upon which much of our
understanding of optical science rests today. As a
reward for his efforts Carl Zeiss made Abbe a partner
in his burgeoning business in 1876.
Becoming wealthy through his optical work and a
partnership with Zeiss, Abbe set up and endowed the Carl
Zeiss Foundation for research in science and social
improvement in 1891. The Carl Zeiss Foundation describes
its setting up as follows:
This foundation established a new group as
the owners of Carl Zeiss. The greater portion of the
assets were deeded to the University of Jena, whose
Department of Education managed the universities
interests. This authority was bound by a set of
statutes drawn up by Abbe himself, after studying
sociology and law for two years. The balance of the
estate was donated to the employees of Carl Zeiss.
Abbe introduced industrial relations changes into the
Zeiss optical works in 1896 which today sound commonplace
but were many years ahead of their time. These included
an 8 hour working day, holiday pay, sick pay and