Carl Zeiss is one of the world-wide most well-known enterprises of the fine-mechanical-optical industry. Seat of the company line is today upper cooking. Further locations are in Jena (Carl Zeiss Jena GmbH), Goettingen, Aalen, Wetzlar (Hensoldt AG) and Calmbach (pro gate work), as well as in the USA, Hungary, Switzerland, Mexico, white Russia and China (Suzhou).

Beside microscopes and binoculars (with Hensoldt) also different devices for science, research and industry are produced.

Large admittingness attained the company Carl Zeiss by its astronomical instruments. To it belong Linsenfernrohre, Spiegelteleskope and equipment for observatories in addition, Planetarien. These were displaced however in the last years by a Universarium designated equipment. The well-known design, because of its form often bones mentioned, yielded a far simpler construction.

In addition, the product catalog covers other ranges, for example chemical analysis technique on optical basis, plants to environmental protection (determination of atmospheric contamination by means of reflected laser light) and much more besides.

Today devices for the semiconductor industry (production such as control technology) belong, for the medical technology (operating microscopes, ophthalmic optics compilation places) likewise to the product program like the "“classical"” optical products - eyeglass lenses and special cross sections) and microscopes.

Carl Zeiss manufactures exclusive camera objectives for Hasselblad, Rollei, Contax and recently Sony (digital cameras Camcorder). Admits is the high-quality of the Zeiss objectives. The objectives of these companies in addition, licenced productions are partial.

Firm history

Founder years (1846-1905)

Out Weimar the coming mechanic master Carl Zeiss opened an fine-mechanical-optical workshop in the new lane 7 in Jena to 1846. For this it received a "“grossherzogliche concession for manufacturing and for the sales of mechanical and optical instruments"”. 1847 it stopped August as its first apprentice, who became late work master with Zeiss. End of the yearly the first simple microscopes in the workshop were already manufactured. Zeiss of 10 coworkers employed 1852.

The 1860 to the appointed Carl Zeiss was not content with the quality of its microscopes. Each microscope was a Unikat. One had large exercise therein to place lenses by trying to a complete microscope together. There was however no possibility of computing and purposefully of optimizing the characteristics of a microscope ahead.

The mathematician tried to compute Friedrich William barefoot between 1850 and 1854 microscope optics, in order to create so the bases for a scientific building of microscopes - however unfortunately without success.

Zeiss co-operated therefore starting from 1866 with Ernst Abbe, a physics professor of the Jenaer university. It succeeded to set up a theory of the microscope optics to this after work for many years and setbacks. To emphasize is thereby apart from the ingenious achievements Ernst Abbes, the patience and the staying power of the entrepreneur Carl Zeiss. As a world-wide only company Carl Zeiss was now able to produce microscopes after catalog and with defined characteristics. With it a singular success history began. Carl Zeiss of 60 coworkers already employed 1875. In the year of its death, 1888, were already 327.

An important problem, those equal lasting quality of the glass, could not be solved however from Zeiss and Abbe. They got therefore the chemist Otto bulkhead to Jena. After successful glass fusion attempts for the company Carl Zeiss developed these a work for optical glasses in Jena.

1875 decided Carl Zeiss to offer to his friend Ernst Abbe the partnership at the company. As limited partner Ernst Abbe used now a large part of his worker for the company. Roderich Zeiss, the oldest son of Carl Zeiss, occurred one year later likewise the company. Carl Zeiss died 1888 and left an important enterprise with shining perspectives.

Abbe solved tensions around the entrepreneur oh sequence by the transformation of the enterprise into a donation enterprise. Starting from 1891/96 the enterprise again created Carl Zeiss donation belonged. It was bound over donation organs to national control institutions of the country Saxonia Weimar iron oh. The operational business lay in the hands of a management, who to 1903 Abbe as a donation authorized person managed.

The enterprise after death Abbes up to the end of the Second World War (1905-1945)

Before the First World War the enterprise experienced a rapid ascent, which did not diminish also with outbreak of the First World War. In both world wars the enterprise belonged to war-relevant goods to the prominent German producers of arms and.

Zeiss in east and West Germany (1945-1990)

At the end of the Second World War Jena was occupied for short time by US-American troops. With the departure of US armed forces from Thuringia in June also numerous specialists as well as the acting management with important documents Jena left 1945 toward west zones. There they built a new production location gradually in Aalen/Oberkochen.

To Jena transferred the Soviet Besatzer control of undertaking and began with the withdrawal of reparations. 1946 were decided the partial disassembly of the work and accomplished until 1947. 1948 were expropriated the enterprise and integrated as VEB Carl Zeiss Jena into the new GDR state industry. 1955 were finished with Zeiss with the OPREMA the first computer built in the GDR, by which only two copies were built. 1961 were introduced with the Zeiss rake automat (ZRA 1) a further computer, which was manufactured until 1964. 1965 were developed further the VEB Carl Zeiss Jena for the master enterprise of the gleichnahmigen collective combine, to which gradually different VEB of the optical-fine-mechanical and the electronic industry were assigned. Into the 1980er years covered the Zeiss collective combine 25 enterprises with up to 70.000 persons employed. General manager of many years was of 1975-1989 Professor Wolfgang Biermann, Mitglied of the ZK of the SED.

In upper cooking the coworkers changed to the west collected themselves meanwhile and develop a new enterprise Carl Zeiss and a new Carl Zeiss donation.

Milestones

21. July 1969Mit Apollo 11 Armstrong and Aldrin did not only come on the lunar surface on this day. The used video and photo equipment (Hasselblad cameras) with that the world-well-known pictures developed, were equipped with objectives from the house Zeiss.

Literature

• Edith Hellmuth, Wolfgang Zeiss 1846-1905. Of the studio for mechanics for the prominent enterprise of the optical tool-making, publishing house, Cologne et al. 1996
• Rolf walter: Zeiss 1905-1945, publishing house, Cologne et al. 2000
• Wolfgang Edith Hellmuth: Carl Zeiss in Jena 1945-1990, publishing house, Cologne et al. 2004
• Armin Mueller: Institutional breaks and personnel bridges. Work leader in state-owned enterprises of the GDR in the era Ulbricht, Cologne and Weimar 2006. [at present 1945 to 1975]
• Armin Hermann: Only the name had remained. The adventurous history of the company Carl Zeiss, Stuttgart 1989
• Armin Hermann: Jena and the Jenoptik. From the collective combine to global the Player, Munich 1998
• Armin Hermann: And nevertheless brothers. The German-German history of the company Carl Zeiss, Munich 2002
• F. Scheffel: miracles. Three men create a work. Zeiss, Abbe, bulkhead. Brown & cutter, Munich 1938
• Heinz Sponsel: Larva in Germany. The dramatic history of the house Zeiss. Bertelsmann, 1957

See also

• Zeiss Ikon

Related links

• http://www.zeiss.de/ - homepage of the company Carl Zeiss

Articles in category "Carl Zeiss (company)"

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• Document: A Long Story
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