Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Ernst Abbe and His Contributions to Optics

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Superresolution Optical Microscopy

Part of the book series: Springer Series in Optical Sciences ((SSOS,volume 227))

  • 1784 Accesses

Abstract

In this chapter I suggest connections between the early life, education, and work experience of Ernst Abbe as well as his seminal contributions to optical metrology and his role as a social reformer. While several sources discuss what Abbe contributed during his career, I suggest links to help answer the question of what prompted him to do so? First, I posit that Abbe’s difficult and financially unstable early life led to his penchant to work as a social reformer at Zeiss Werke and at the University of Jena.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 149.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 199.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 199.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Abbe, E. (1863). Ueber die Gesetzmässigkeit in der Vertheilung der Fehler bei Beobactungsreihen. [Concerning the regularity in the distribution of errors in observation series]. Dissertation for attainment of the Venia Docendi in the philosophy faculty in Jena in 1863. In: Gesammelte Abhandlungen, II. Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlag, pp. 55–81.

    Google Scholar 

  • Abbe, E. (1873). Ueber einen neuen Beleuchtungsapparat am Mikroskop. Archiv für mikroskopische Anatomie, IX, 469–480.

    Google Scholar 

  • Abbe, E. (1875). V. A new illuminating apparatus for the microscope. Monthly Microscopical Journal, XIII, 77–82.

    Google Scholar 

  • Abbe, E. (1879). On Stephenson’s system of homogeneous immersion for microscope objectives. Journal of the Royal Microscopical Society, 2, 256–265.

    Google Scholar 

  • Abbe, E. (1880). The essence of homogeneous immersion. Journal of the Royal Microscopical Society, 1, 526.

    Google Scholar 

  • Abbe, E. (1881). On the estimation of aperture in the microscope. Journal of the Royal Microscopical Society, 1, 388–423.

    Google Scholar 

  • Abbe, E. (1989). Gesammelte Abhandlungen, I-IV. Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Abbe, E. (1906). Messapparate [Dickenmesser, Comparator, Sphärometer] für Physiker. XI, In: Abbe, E. (1906). Gesammelte Abhandlungen, II. Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlag, pp. 206–214.

    Google Scholar 

  • Auerbach, F. (1918). Ernst Abbe: sein Leben, sein Wirken, seine Persönlichkeit nach den Quellen und aus eigener Erfahrung geschildert von Felix Auerbach. Leipzig: Akademie Verlag Gesellschaft.

    Google Scholar 

  • Auerbach, F. (1922). Ernst Abbe: sein Leben, sein Wirken, seine Persönlichkeit nach Quellen und aus eigener Erfahrung geschildert von Felix Auerbach. Zweite Auflage. Leipzig: Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft.

    Google Scholar 

  • Born, M., and Wolf, E. (1999). Principles of Optics, 7th (expanded) edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cahan D. (1996). The Zeiss Werke and the ultramicroscope: the creation of a scientific instrument in context. In: Buchwald, J. Z., editor, Scientific Credibility and Technical Standards in 19th and early 20th Century Germany and Britain, Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, pp. 67–115.

    Google Scholar 

  • Czapski, S. (1906). Geometrische Optik. In: A. Winkelmann, Ed. Handbuch der Physik, Zweite Auflage, Sechster Band, Optik. Leipzig: Verlag von Johann Ambrosius Barth.

    Google Scholar 

  • Czapski, S., and Eppenstein, O. (1924). Grundzüge der Theorie der optischen Instrumente nach Abbe. Dritte Auflage. Leipzig: J. A. Barth Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dippel, L. (1882). Das Mikroskop und seine Anwendung. Erster Theil. Handbuch der Allegemeiner Mikroskopie, Zweite Auflage. Braunschweig: Friedrich Vieweg und Sohn.

    Google Scholar 

  • Feffer, S. M. (1994). Microscopes to munitions: Ernst Abbe, Carl Zeiss, and the transformation of technical optics, 1850–1914. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of California, Berkeley, 1994. Ann Arbor: UMI Dissertation Services.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gerth, K. (2005). Ernst Abbe, Scientist, Entrepreneur, Social Reformer. Jena: Verlag Dr. Buseert & Stadeler.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gross, H. (2005). Aberrations: The sine condition. In: Handbook of Optical Systems, Vol. 1: Fundamentals of Technical Optics (p. 495). Weinheim, FRG: Wiley-VCH.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hartinger, H. (1930). Zum fünfundzwanzigsten Todestage von Ernst Abbe. Die Naturwissenschaften, 18, 49–63.

    Google Scholar 

  • Helmholtz, H. (1874). Die theoretische Grenze für die Leistungsfähigkeit der Mikroskope. Poggendorff’s Annalen der Physik, Jubelband 1874, 557–584, Leipzig. Translated as: “On the theoretical limits of the optical capacity of the microscope.” Monthly Microscopical Journal, 16, 15–39 (1876).

    Google Scholar 

  • Kingslake, R., and Johnson, R. B. (2010). Lens Design Fundamentals. Second Edition, New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lummer and Reiche (1910). Die Lehre von der Bildentstehung im Mikroskop von Ernst Abbe. Braunschweig: Druck und Verlag con Friedrich Vieweg und Sohn.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mansuripur, M. (2009). Chapter 1, Abbe’s sine condition, in: Classical Optics and its Applications. Second Edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 9–22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Masters, B. R. (2007). Ernst Abbe and the foundation of scientific microscopes. Optics & Photonics News, February, 19–23.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nägeli and Schwendener (1877). Das Mikroskop. Leipzig: Verlag von Wilhelm Engelmann.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pedrotti, F. L., Pedrotti, L. M., and L. S. Pedrotti (2018). Introduction to Optics, Third Edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rheinberg, J. (1905). Obituary. Journal of the Royal Microscopical Society, 25, 156–163.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sasián, J. (2013). Introduction to Aberrations in Optical Imaging Systems. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Simon, J. M., Ratto, J. O., and Comastri, S. A. (1979). Sine condition derivation via Fourier optics. Applied Optics, 18, 2912–2913.

    Google Scholar 

  • Volkmann, H. (1966). Ernst Abbe and his work. Applied Optics, 5, 1720–1731.

    Google Scholar 

  • von Rohr, M. (1940). Ernst Abbe. Jena: Gustav Fischer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zeiss, C. (1878). Description of Professor Abbe’s apertometer, with instructions for its use. Journal of the Royal Microscopical Society, I, 19–22.

    Google Scholar 

Further Reading

  • Abbe, E. (1879). On new methods for improving spherical correction, applied to the construction of wide-angled object-glasses [microscope objectives]. Journal of the Royal Microscopical Society, II, 812–824.

    Google Scholar 

  • Abbe, E. (1893). Apparat zur Bestimmung der Brennweite von Linsensysten (Fokometer). In: Abbe, E. (1906) Gesammelte Abhandlungen, XIII. Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlag, pp. 215–218.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hopkins, H. H. (1950). Wave theory of Aberrations. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Masters, B. R. (2006). Confocal Microscopy and Multiphoton Excitation Microscopy: The Genesis of Live Cell Imaging. Bellingham: SPIE Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Masters, B. R. (2009). C. V. Raman and the Raman effect. Optics & Photonics News, March 20, 40–45.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Previously, Visiting Scientist Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Barry R. Masters

  2. Previously, Visiting Scholar Department of the History of Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Barry R. Masters

Authors
  1. Barry R. Masters
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Barry R. Masters .

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Masters, B.R. (2020). Ernst Abbe and His Contributions to Optics. In: Superresolution Optical Microscopy. Springer Series in Optical Sciences, vol 227. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-21691-7_5

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation