Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung

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Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung

D-7920 Heidenheim
Postfach 1380
Carl-Zeiss-Strasse 2-60
D-7082 Oberkochen
Federal Republic of Germany
(7364) 200
Fax: (7364) 20 33 70

Private Company
Incorporated: 1889
Employees: 32,247
Sales: DM4.4 billion (US$2.60 billion)

The Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung, a “juridical person” under German civil law, is the sole owner of two industrial enterprises, Carl Zeiss of Oberkochen and Schott Glaswerke of Mainz. These enterprises develop, produce, and sell high-quality precision-engineered optical glass and electronic products. The Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung enterprises have—as a percentage of sales— one of Germany’s highest research and development budgets. The company has no private or state associates, and no shareholders. Stiftung is sometimes inaccurately translated as a special type of “foundation,” a term suggesting an institution with purely charitable or scientific aims. The Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung, however, is a business organization with specific technological, scientific, economic, and social aims and functions. Usually companies are owned by individuals, banks, or states. The above-mentioned enterprises, however, are owned by the Stiftung and owe much of their character to its 1896 statute provisions.

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 theory of the microscope and 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 the bacteriologists’ identification of infectious bacteria.

At that time the availability of only a small number of glass types with different optical properties limited progress in microscope image quality. In 1884 the chemist Otto Schott, together with Ernst Abbe, Carl Zeiss, and the latter’s son Roderich, established a glass research laboratory, which developed into the Jenaer Glaswerk Schott & Genossen. By 1886, 44 different types of optical glass were in production. In cooperation with Ernst Abbe, Otto Schott carried out systematic research work into the dependence of optical and other glass on chemical composition. Schott’s inventions included thermometer glass, chemical- and heat-resistant borosilicate glass. His optical glass contributed to the development of modern optical instruments. For microscopes and later also for telescopes, optical systems with apochromatic correction, that is, considerably reduced color aberrations, were designed.

Abbe’s achievements as a social reformer of employment conditions were as significant as his scientific innovations. In 1889 he founded the CarF-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, scientific, and technological future and in this way to improve the job security of their employees. The Stiftung’s enterprises were obliged to produce high-quality, precision-engineered instruments, optical glass, and similar products, to fulfil long term social welfare obligations to their employees, to support science and technology outside as well as within the enterprises, and to participate in projects which served the general good. The employment and career of an employee would depend only on his capabilities and performance, not on his origin, religion, or political views. The employees were to elect their own representation on the works council, and they received the right to a fixed minimum income, paid holidays, sickness benefit, profit sharing, disablement and pension benefits, and a nine-hour day, all of which was realized as early as 1896. In 1900 the eight-hour day was introduced.

This scientific and social basis was reinforced economically by product diversification and by a growing export organization. In addition to microscopes Zeiss marketed photo lenses from 1890, measuring instruments from 1893, and terrestrial telescopes from 1894. Astronomical optics followed in 1897, medical instruments in 1898, photogrammetrical instruments in 1901, surveying instruments in 1908, and eye glasses in 1912. Schott solved the cooling problem for large optical components with a diameter of up to 1.4 meters, as early as 1894. In 1913 Schott offered 97 types of optical glass, and by 1923 the number had increased to 114.

International relations were cultivated at an early stage. Zeiss visited the Paris World Fair in 1867, and Schott was repeatedly active as a manager in Spain, establishing a chemical factory in Oviedo, Spain, and a production facility for window glass in Reinosa, Spain. These were not, however, owned by Schott. Abbe exchanged ideas with British microscopists, and from 1878 he published papers in English.

In 1899 about two-thirds of Zeiss instruments were sold abroad. A network of branches and agencies was built up, beginning with Zeiss sales offices in London, in 1901, and Vienna, in 1902. Branch factories were established in Vienna; in Györ, Hungary; Riga; and London in the first years of the 20th century.

In this period the Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung financed a number of projects for the benefit of Jena University and of the community, including a university building in 1908 and the Volkshaus, literally the “People’s House,” but in reality a palace with a library, museums, lecture halls, and a concert hall. Other projects in which the Stiftung was involved included a school of opticians, a children’s hospital, and a public baths.

The Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung’s constituent businesses, according to its statute, do not have a president but have several board members instead. This arrangement provides a degree of continuity even if a manager retires or dies. When Abbe retired in 1903 and died in 1905, Otto Schott, Siegfried Czapski, and Rudolf Straubel took over the burden of responsibility. Long-standing leaders of the organization included Erich Schott, who created a glass electric division in the glass works and was a board member from 1927-1968, and Walther Bauersfeld, who was a Zeiss board member from 1908-1959. Bauersfeld received worldwide esteem for his invention of a planetarium, which strikingly demonstrated the real and apparent movements of the sun, moon, fixed stars, and planets by projection on the inside of a dome.

The reputation of the Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung, the excellence of its products, and the commercial success of its enterprises had a far-reaching impact on the industries in which it was involved. Bausch & Lomb of Rochester, New York, acquired licenses from Zeiss, who bought shares in this U.S. company in 1908. World War I put an end to this successful collaboration in 1915. Another well-known microscope manufacturer, Rudolf Winkel of Gottingen, was reorganized after some financial problems with the help of Carl Zeiss in 1911 and integrated into the organization in 1957. Today Zeiss microscopes are made in Gottingen.

From 1910 to 1926 various German camera factories were amalgamated step-by-step into the Zeiss Ikon AG, famous for its Contax brand. In 1910 Zeiss acquired shares and in 1931 the majority of the Prontor-Werk Alfred Gauthier GmbH, now a producer of items for Carl Zeiss instruments. In 1927 the Schott works acquired a majority share in a company now called Schott-Zwiesel-Glaswerke AG that produced consumer glassware. Three years later a majority share was acquired in the company now known as Deutsche Spezialglas AG, a manufacturer of ophthalmic glass and various types of special technical glass. In 1928 Carl Zeiss acquired shares of the M. Hensoldt & Sóhne Wetzlar Optische Werke AG, which today produces Carl Zeiss telescopes and riflescopes. Hermann Anschütz-Kaempfe, the inventor of the gyrocompass, was impressed by the ideas of the Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung, to which he offered his majority share of his company Anschütz & Co. GmbH, producers of navigation instruments, shortly before his death in 1931.

Thanks to its solid foundations the Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung survived through times of hardship. During World War I, the work force was considerably enlarged due to the demands of riflescope, distancemeter, and aerial camera production. After the war and the subsequent period of hyper-inflation it became necessary to reduce personnel. In accordance with the statute of the Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung, compensation for dismissal was paid.

In 1933 a National Socialist was appointed to the post of Stiftungskommissar (foundation deputy), as the one-man supervising authority of the Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung. The board members and work forces of both enterprises, Carl Zeiss and Schott Glaswerke, offered concerted resistance. The foundation deputy was ousted from his post in 1934, and Abraham Esau, a professor loyal to the Stiftung, took his place. Today the foundation deputy is assisted by advisory boards at the two enterprises. Each advisory board has six appointed and six elected members.

After 1933 production of a wide range of glass materials, glass products, and optical instruments continued. New developments included the phase contrast microscope, the prototype of which was first seen in 1936, and a new instrument for rapid surveying, in 1942. During World War II demand for military optics—range finders, rifle scopes, and periscopes for example—increased again. The additional workforce consisted of both Germans and laborers from occupied countries.

In 1945, after World War II, the Allied government brought the entire management and the leading scientists of the enterprises of the Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung to Heidenheim, which became its new legal base after the two Jena enterprises were expropriated in 1948 by the East German authorities without compensation. Only in West Germany could it continue its existence on the basis of Abbe’s statute. The Schott Glaswerke and Carl Zeiss have since regained international renown for their numerous technical innovations.

However, the 126 managers and scientists in West Germany had to overcome enormous difficulties. Having arrived without technical documents, they had to rely on memory. In 1946, in Oberkochen near Heidenheim—in what is today Baden-Württemberg—a new optical plant was established, initially in rented premises. The glass experts continued production in Zwiesel and Landshut, Bavaria, until 1952, when a new factory was opened in Mainz.

Schott also established a number of production and sales subsidiaries at home and abroad; for example, ampule factories in Brazil and France between 1954 and 1974. In 1967 the present Schott Glass Technologies Inc. of Duryea, Pennsylvania, in the United States was founded for the production of optical glass. In Germany the Schott-Ruhrglas GmbH, manufacturing special glass tubing, was established in 1969. Carl Zeiss acquired two spectacles factories—Marwitz & Hauser, in which it had acquired a majority shareholding in 1958, and Titmus Optical Inc., of the United States—in 1974. The contact-lens maker Wóhlk has been a Zeiss subsidiary since 1980, when Carl Zeiss acquired a major stake.

After the postwar reconstruction of the company, the employment rights of the workers became effective once more; they had not been practicable during the state of emergency after World War II. On the occasion of this event the Federal President Theodor Heuss visited Oberkochen on May 1, 1954, and stated: “German destiny is branded on few establishments of world significance as it is on this Zeiss establishment.”

The original plants in Jena were dismantled by the Russian authorities in 1946, and more than 300 specialists were forced to work in Russia for some years. The Zeiss and Schott enterprises in Jena were temporarily struck off the trade register. Expropriation and nationalization of its former factories had removed the basis of the existence of the Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung in Jena. Nevertheless, the factories in Jena were restored to working order. From 1954 there were legal disputes in many countries regarding the matter of identity of the Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung and the use of the name Zeiss and its trademarks. In 1971 a compromise contract was finally drawn up in London. Under the contract, the Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung, Heidenheim, could exclusively use its name and trademarks with the component Zeiss in West Germany and some other Western countries, including the United States. The Jena party received corresponding exclusive rights in the Comecon and some other countries. In some countries, such as the United Kingdom, both parties could use the name Zeiss. This contract was replaced by a new version in 1990. As far as the identity of the Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung was concerned, the parties adhered to their differing opinions. For the glass works, a settlement valid worldwide was reached in 1981; the enterprise in Mainz was renamed Schott Glaswerke and the Jena enterprise took the name Jenaer Glaswerk. Under the policies and principles of the statute of the Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung, Schott Glaswerke and Carl Zeiss are prepared to master the challenges of the future in the fields of technology and business.

Principal Subsidiaries

Auer-SOG Glaswerke GmbH; Deutsche Spezialglas AG (84%); Schott-Ruhrglas GmbH (74%); Schott-Zwiesel-Glaswerke AG; Glaswerk Wertheim GmbH; Schott Glass Technologies Inc. (U.S.A.); La Verrerie Medicale (France); Vitrofarma Indústria e Comércio de Vidros S.A. (Brazil, 94%); Anschütz & Co. GmbH; Heinrich Wöhlk Institut für Contact-Linsen GmbH & Co. (75%); Marwitz & Hauser GmbH; M. Hensoldt & Sóhne Wetzlar Optische Werke AG; Prontor-Werk Alfred Gauthier GmbH; Titmus Optical Inc. (U.S.A.).