Photo: Child that flies a kite with ZEISS logo. History
Historical Figures
"There's no progress without laziness! Because people were too lazy to row they invented the steamship; because they were too lazy to walk they invented the automobile; and because they were too lazy to close their eyes in the evening they invented television."
Reflections of the German novelist Manfred Hausmann (1898-1986)
on the subject of progress.

This part of our web site will give you some interesting information on an important personality from the world of research, science and technology and on his or her achievements. Needless to say, we shall always strive to find as direct a link as possible to the fields of activity pursued by Carl Zeiss.

Portrait: Carl Friedrich Zeiss Carl Friedrich Zeiss
Founder of Carl Zeiss as a precision workshop for the production of mechanical and optical components in Jena in 1846.
Portrait: Ernst Abbe Ernst Abbe
He played a decisive role in the technical lead, business success and continued existence of the two companies Carl Zeiss and SCHOTT.
Portrait: Jean Bernard Léon Foucault Jean Bernard Léon Foucault
Foucault‘s name is primarily associated with the pendulum experiment which he performed to demonstrate the earth’s rotary motion.
Portrait: Joseph von Fraunhofer Joseph von Fraunhofer
By teaching himself mathematics and physics, Fraunhofer became the most important optician in the first quarter of the 19th century.
Portrait: Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin
Printer, newspaper publisher, economist, diplomat, statesman, musician, philosopher, scientist and inventor
Portrait: Galileo Galilei Galileo Galilei
His astronomical discoveries made Galileo Galilei one of the most important early advocates of the Copernican doctrine.
Portrait: Carl Friedrich Gauß Carl Friedrich Gauss
With his numerous contributions to pure and applied mathematics, Carl Friedrich Gauss was a true pioneer.
Portrait: Allvar Gullstrand Allvar Gullstrand
With his empirical studies on the refraction of light in the human eye, the Swedish ophthalmologist created a fundamental theory on the process of vision, placing ophthalmology and ophthalmic optics on a truly scientific basis.
Portrait: Robert Hooke Robert Hooke
He analyzed the role of air in combustion, but his most notable accomplishment was undoubtedly the improvements he achieved in the design of scientific instruments.
Portrait: Robert Koch Robert Koch
His microscopic examinations and scientific methods identified pathogens as the causative agents of particular diseases for the very first time.
Portrait: Friedrich Kohlrausch Friedrich Kohlrausch
To this very day, the textbook ”Praktische Physik” (Practical Physics), which originated in his ”Leitfaden der praktischen Physik” (Guidelines to Practical Physics), is standard reading for physicists and engineers in Germany.
Portrait: Oskar von Miller Oskar von Miller
The name of its founder, Oskar von Miller, is inextricably linked with the Deutsches Museum. He was a man whose ingenious ideas were far beyond the period in which he lived...
Portrait: Paolo Ignazio Pietro Porro Paolo Ignazio Pietro Porro
Anyone with a basic knowledge of optics immediately associates the name ”Porro” with binoculars and prism erecting systems.
Portrait: William Hyde Wollaston William Hyde Wollaston
The Englishman William Hyde Wollaston made significant theoretical and practical contributions to physics, and to optics in particular.
At a Glance
Founding Fathers

Historic Persons of Research and Technology