CHAPTER 13 A Brief Look Back 79
Calculated Lens Quality – The
Breakthrough of Commercial Microscopy
In the mid-19th century, the German mechanic Carl Zeiss began his own business
in the German university town of Jena, Thuringia. In 1857, the Zeiss workshop
produced the first genuine compound microscope equipped with an eyepiece
and an objective. Carl Zeiss refused to accept the trial-and-error method
used at
the time for the production of optics. He acknowledged that his manufacturing
procedure had to be based on precise rules and strict guidelines. For assistance
in this endeavor, Carl Zeiss formed a partnership with Prof. Ernst Abbe, a
brilliant
physicist and mathematician. In 1872, Abbe formulated his wave theory
of microscopic imaging and defined what would become known as the »Abbe resolution
formula« that must be fulfilled to produce sharp images. The construction
of microscopes on a sound theoretical basis was possible, and still is today.
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