Who was Carl Zeiss?

To the extent that we are able to trace Zeiss’s family tree, we can see that its members were based primarily in a handful of small communities to the north of Weimar, most of them in Rastenberg and Buttstädt. The family were Protestants through and through, which is hardly surprising in this part of Germany.

Most of the men in the family were craftsmen by trade. For five generations until the Thirty Years' War, Carl Zeiss's ancestors were wood turners.

Their wives came from a somewhat further area, but no further than Zwickau, Weida and Hof. The women who joined the family were normally daughters of civil servants, pastors and, of course, craftsmen.

Friederike Schmith (1786–1856) was the daughter of a Buttstädt town magistrate and ducal court advocate. As such, she was a favorable match for the craftsman August Zeiss (1785-1849) as she introduced him to the glittering world of the bourgeoisie and the educated classes.

August Zeiss had inherited the craft of ‘horn turner’ and subsequently of ‘art turner’ from his father. Despite his interest in science, he only ever received a basic education. Since both August and his older brother Friedrich remained loyal to the craft of wood turning, when he married in 1808 August moved to Weimar, where he was granted citizenship at the age of 23. August Zeiss initially lived and worked at Töpfenmarkt square (today's Herderplatz square). He then turned his attention to the production of and trade in smoking accessories. In 1829, he was given the title of court wood turner. August Zeiss was one of the founding fathers of the Weimar Trade Association and was its first chairman in 1834/35 .

Carl Zeiss had two older brothers: Eduard (1809–1877) and Gustav (1811–1875). All three of them attended the grammar school in Weimar. Both brothers left school with a full education.

From 1829 to 1832, Eduard studied philology and theology in Jena. In 1834, he became the rector of the local school in Buttstädt. In 1842, he accepted a position as rector of the Citizens’ School in Jena, a move that saw him return to the town of his student days. The state frequently asked him to provide appraisals of education establishments. In 1846, Eduard gave Carl 100 thalers to set up his very own workshop..

Gustav also studied in Jena and graduated with a doctorate in philosophy (Dr. phil.). When Carl relocated to Jena in 1834, the three brothers spent a few months together there. In January of 1835, Carl moved in with Gustav in what was known as the Körnerei, a kind of student accommodation surrounded by inns that were owned by master carpenter Körner. Gustav later became a grammar school teacher in Weimar.

We know hardly anything about his younger sisters Pauline (1828–1875), Hulda (1821–1888) and Emilie (1818–1900).

As befitted the patriarchal ideology of the time, the three girls probably enjoyed only a modest education that prepared them for their roles as wives and mothers.

Pauline kept house for Carl in Jena until he married in 1849. His younger sister Hulda is also said to have helped him at the time. Hulda also looked after his son Roderich after his mother and grandmother both passed away. When Carl purchased the plot of land on Johannisplatz 9 in 1858, his sisters Emilie and Pauline lent him a total of 500 thalers. It would seem, therefore, that the siblings were always there for each other in times of need. This stands testament to a strong family bond.

In 1855 Zeiss’s sister Pauline married the widowed church counselor Carl Gustav Schatter in Neunhofen. Thus, Zeiss’s first father-in-law simultaneously became his brother-in-law. In 1858, Hulda married the bookbinder Gustav Scheidemantel from Weimar. Emilie never married.

In 1808, the young couple Friederike and August Zeiss relocated to Weimar. From then on, August Zeiss turned his attention to the production of and trade with smoking accessories, as the following advertisement in the Weimarisches Wochenblatt on 4 March 1809 demonstrates:

“I herewith inform the most honored public that I have moved into the house belonging to Frau von Lincker on the Töpfermarkt. I manufacture all sorts of genuine pipes and perform other fine wood-turning work. I also offer Meissen porcelain pipe bowls and the like at very cheap prices.”

Zeiss appears to have been a good businessman. As early as August 1812, he had saved enough money to purchase at auction a three-story house in the Breite Gasse lane 53 (now Marktstrasse street 13) for 1,540 thalers. This is the house in which Carl Zeiss was born in 1816.

On 11 September 1816, Carl Zeiss was born as the fifth of 12 children. Six of his siblings died at a young age. He was baptized Carl Friedrich after his godfather, the heir to the throne of Saxe - Weimar - Eisenach.

“Sept. 1816. [232]
Friedrich August Zeiss, citizen and wood turner here, and his wife, Friederica Antonette, née Schmidt, had a fifth child, a baby boy, who was born on Wednesday 11 September at 6 in the evening, and was baptized on Thursday 19 [?] with the name Carl Friedrich, the only esteemed godfather was His Majesty the next in line to be Grand Duke of Saxe, Weimar and Eisenach pp Carl August Friedrich. N.B. the nursemaid Frau Schulze held him in her arms.”

In 1818, his father purchased the house at Kaufstrasse street 1 on Weimar’s Marktplatz square. This very impressive house was located virtually right next to the town hall. He was born on Marktstrasse street and raised on Kaufstrasse on Marktplatz square – that must have caused some confusion further down the line. A commemorative plaque indicating his birthplace was attached to the wrong house on Kaufstrasse street for decades.

From 1810 onwards, August Zeiss paid regular visits to the castle. He taught the heir to the throne all about the art of wood turning. This is a hobby that some ancestors of Carl Friedrich (1783-1853) had previously indulged in. He did not abandon this beloved pastime even when he became Grand Duke in 1828. Until his death in 1849, this was a considerable source of income for August Zeiss and in 1829 he was given the title of court wood turner.

These private lessons gave August Zeiss direct access to the prince, which he then used to secure an influential godfather for his own son. In Weimar society at that time, it was a rare occurrence for a member of the highest political class to play the role of godparent to a lowly citizen. However, there is no evidence to suggest that Carl Zeiss took advantage of his relationship with the Grand Duke's family during his subsequent career.

The Citizens' School was established in Weimar in 1825. In November 1822, the foundations were laid for the building and it was inaugurated in 1825. The triple-winged building in the Neoclassical style provided ample space for the students. Goethe praised the building in a letter to Duke Carl August dated 20 July 1826: “This building is a cultural monolith when one beholds it from the outside before setting foot inside. The roughest children, those who run up and down stairs, who race through anterooms, take their lessons in such handsome classrooms, have already been distanced from all their childhood follies and can now undertake cheerful activities without encountering any obstacles whatsoever.”

We can assume that Carl Zeiss spent his early formative years here. The building has housed a music school since 1966.

Little is known about Carl Zeiss’s early years. What is certain, however, is that August Zeiss provided his sons with an extensive school education. The grammar school records show that Carl was admitted early to the eighth grade, on 13 September 1827, after completing oral and written examinations. This would suggest that Zeiss had already received instruction elsewhere – either with one of the numerous private teachers or at the Weimar Bürgerschule ("Citizens' School") that was set up in 1825.

On 29 March 1832, he left the grammar school with a qualification verifying that he had finished his penultimate year. This entitled him to study technical subjects at the university.

In answer to the question as to why Carl Zeiss, unlike his brothers, did not fully graduate from grammar school but left in his penultimate year, the relevant literature points to the boy’s health. Evidently Carl Zeiss suffered from a hernia and, in his father's opinion, should not conduct any undertaking that required long periods of sedentary activity. According to his father, this meant that he was predestined for a career in the technical crafts. Perhaps this was more attributable to the son’s personal proclivity and to the family tradition of ensuring that at least one of the sons should remain a craftsman.

As Carl Zeiss himself later reported, he attended what was known as the "Trade School" in Weimar that emerged from the existing "Drawing School" following an initiative launched by Goethe in October 1829. Held on Sundays, the Trade School was specially geared to the needs of complex crafts with technical drawing as one of the focal points of its curriculum.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a bona fide hero in the small residential town. The deaths of Johann Gottfried Herder (1744–1803), Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805) and Christoph Martin Wieland (1733–1813) marked the end of the golden age of Classicism. But for Germany, Weimar remained the crucible of literature. With widely read authors such as Christian Vulpius (1762–1827), Paul-Friedrich Richter (1763–1825) aka Jean Paul and Johann Peter Eckermann (1792–1854), the small town still had more to offer than most large German cities.

Be it on his way to school, to meet friends or to play, the young Carl will certainly have had a chance encounter with the old privy counselor Goethe. But whether he was aware of this fact is debatable.

Carl Zeiss went to Jena in early 1834 to begin an apprenticeship under the court mechanic Friedrich Körner (1778–1848). At the same time, from the summer semester of 1835 to the winter semester of 1837/38, he was enrolled to study mathematics at the University of Jena.

According to his university transcript, he attended lectures on algebra and analytical geometry, as well as experimental physics, trigonometry, stereometry, anthropology, mineralogy, and optics. Alongside his focus on the geometrical disciplines relevant to the technical trades, Zeiss therefore also devoted his attention to areas of science that relied on scientific instruments. Added to this was optics, the field that would be the focus of his work. The subject was taught by Friedrich Körner. As one would expect from someone studying while working, Zeiss opted for seminars and lectures that provided him with an introduction to different topics.

Nevertheless, it is likely that he spent the majority of his time producing in Jena at the workshop run by Friedrich Körner. Körner's residence and place of business, rather spacious premises, were located on Grietgasse lane 10, where Zeiss was purported to have lived for a time. The fact that Zeiss was involved in glass melting here means that there must have been an oven for doing so on the premises in the 1830s.

On 20 May 1838, a Sunday, Körner released Zeiss into his journeyman years with a glowing reference. As mechanics was not a trade in its own right, there was no prescribed way in which to go about his new endeavor. Zeiss was left to fend for himself. The only autobiographical account from this period in the young mechanic’s life dates back to 1846. In his search for a place to set up his business in Jena, Zeiss wrote the following:

“In the period from July 1838 to May 1845 I sought to further my knowledge by working at the most renowned physical, optical, mathematical and machine workshops in Stuttgart, Darmstadt, Vienna and Berlin. I availed of every opportunity for my advancement by using the tools and acquiring the skills beneficial to and necessary for a mechanic.”

Few historical records exist of his journeyman years. This is not surprising when we consider that the arrival of a lonely, and at the time unknown, wandering mechanic was an unremarkable event in a big city. The large gaps in his employment and university references also suggest that as a journeyman, Zeiss did not solely focus on advancing his knowledge and skills. We do not know where he could have worked in Stuttgart.

Carl Zeiss received a thorough education from private teachers, the Weimar Citizens’ School and his subsequent enrollment at the grammar school. Carl Zeiss was also part of the first generation of students to enjoy an improved education which was more sharply focused on the requirements of technical occupations. His schooldays in Weimar may have been of key importance in the graduate’s subsequent decision to devote his energies to the fields of mechanics and optics.

There are two accounts about his time in Vienna: the first from the Imperial and Royal Polytechnic Institute, the nucleus of the Vienna Technical University. In 1842/43, Zeiss attended “the Sunday lectures on popular mechanics, worked hard” and passed the examination with a very high grade. The second reference comes from the Viennese branch of the Strasbourg-based truck scale factory Rollé & Schwilgué, which operated from 1844 onwards as Heinrich Daniel Schmid (following multiple name changes, it is now part of Siemens AG Austria). Zeiss received documented confirmation of the time he spent working at Vienna’s heavy machinery producer between April and August 1843.

In June 1844, Carl Zeiss made his way from Austria to Berlin via his hometown of Weimar. He was hired by the mechanic Carl Ernst Lüttig. From 30 September 1844 to 6 September 1845, he worked as an assistant in the workshop on Postrasse street 11 in Berlin’s Nikolaiviertel district. As Lüttig also took part in the General German Trade Exhibition in 1844, we know that he specialized in technical drawing instruments for physical and mathematical research. Given the way his career would turn out, it is surprising how little Zeiss concerned himself with optics during his journeyman years. Not one of the references was issued by an employer specialized in optical instruments, although the many ports of call along his route included Simon Plössl in Vienna and Friedrich Wilhelm Schiek in Berlin who ran workshops that enjoyed excellent reputations. It is clear that Zeiss was interested primarily in mechanics.

We also know nothing about his employer in Darmstadt. Different researchers have speculated that Zeiss spent some time in the capital of the Grand Duchy of Hesse working at the factory of Johann Hector Roessler (1779–1863) which primarily produced minting machines. This is plausible: Roessler was a journeyman in Jena, assumed the post of a university mechanic in Darmstadt and ran a mechanical workshop that was not dissimilar to that of Körner in Jena; he was then appointed grand ducal currency officer for Hesse in 1832. Nevertheless, there is no documentary evidence to support the claim that Zeiss was employed by Rössler in Darmstadt.

In December 1879, Zeiss had already acquired a large plot of land outside the historical town center and planned to construct a building that would house both living quarters and a workshop with adjacent buildings. In a letter to the Jena municipal council, Zeiss explained how he intended to utilize the land: “The ground floor of front building A will be reserved exclusively for the rooms needed to run my Optical Works (no manufacturing areas); the floor above it will serve as living quarters. The ground floor of annex B has been designated as an area for mechanical work, and the floor above it for optical work – and separate areas for Prof. Abbe and Dr. Riedel”

In the fall of 1880, so much progress had been made that Zeiss announced that the majority of his workers would be relocated on Monday 27 September. For the first time, production and development were housed in dedicated spaces.

As early as 17 November 1846, a Tuesday two days before the permit was officially granted, Carl Zeiss is reported to have moved into his first workshop on Neugasse street 7. This is now regarded as the date on which Carl Zeiss AG was officially founded but it is not supported by any documentary evidence. The original date of establishment was later reconstructed on the basis of the workshop logbook dating back to 1871; in it, the mechanic Pape wrote the following note under 17 November: “Stopped at 9 a.m. Company’s 25th anniversary.”

There are some indications that the workshop on Neugasse was nothing more than a temporary site. Carl Zeiss actually wrote in October 1846 that he would need six months after being granted a permit to set up his workshop. When the aforementioned six months were up, in June 1847 he relocated to Wagnergasse, where he proceeded to hire his first apprentice.

On 19 June 1847, Zeiss published an announcement in the Jenaische Zeitung that he would henceforth be living and working at Wagnergasse lane 32. A letter from his father, who assisted him with the move, tells of a prototype for a microscope: “While I was there, I saw that he had finished constructing a microscope; I found it very good indeed. He does not wish to build any more of them, however, until he receives the machine from Berlin that is due to arrive this month."

The machine mentioned in the letter was a lathe produced by the engineer August Hamann in Berlin and without which efficient microscope production would have been unthinkable. In the summer of 1847, Carl Zeiss began producing microscopes and in September 1847, he sold his first one. The business on Wagnergasse was slowly coming into its own. All of his children were born at around the same time.

Slowly but surely, Carl Zeiss succeeded in making a name for himself as an entrepreneur both in business and in society. Evidence of this came in early 1858 when he purchased the premises at Johannisplatz square 10, which abutted Jena’s historical center. The building, which Zeiss procured using the 500 thalers borrowed from his sisters Emilie and Pauline, was spacious enough to accommodate the later expansion of his business. Alongside the workshop in the annex, the retail outlet on the ground floor and the private quarters on the first floor where the Zeiss family dwelled were further spacious living quarters.

In 1860, Zeiss also acquired an adjacent courtyard building to expand his workshop. It was not until 1880 that he gave up his retail shop, where he once sold spectacles, telescopes and other instruments. Here, on Johannisplatz square, is where his collaboration with Ernst Abbe began, and it got the ball rolling on his company's rise to a microscope maker of international proportions.

Friedrich Körner was born on 2 September 1778, the son of a baker from Weimar. He also came from a line of tradesmen employed by the Thuringian residence. In around 1810, Körner was employed as a mechanic at the Weimar court with the assistance of Goethe. Carl August provided his court mechanic with an annual wage of 300 thalers, redeployed him to Jena and ensured that he completed a postgraduate degree in 1818 at the university and that he qualified as a professor.

Körner returned the favor by offering courses in optics and mechanics at regular intervals; he showcased the virtues of numerous instruments. He also founded a mechanical workshop in Jena and its portfolio focused primarily on the university’s needs. Carl Zeiss was his apprentice from 1834 to 1838.

The botanist Matthias Jakob Schleiden (1804–1881) helped develop the cell theory. He was hailed as the pioneer of microscopy. While Zeiss had been traveling far and wide, Schleiden had already managed to persuade the court mechanic Körner to devote more time to the construction of microscopes. After returning to Jena, Carl Zeiss worked at the Physiological Institute established in 1843; Schleiden ran it jointly with geologist Ernst Erhard Schmid and physician Heinrich Haeser. Under the aegis of a private research facility, the Institute focused primarily on empirical work.

A large amount of scientific apparatus, predominantly microscopes, was used at the facility. Zeiss' decision to turn his attention to microscope production, instead of running a general store like many of his fellow mechanics, is probably due to his close contact with Schleiden.

Records suggest that his elder brother’s wife introduced Carl Zeiss to the family of a clergyman named Schatter who lived in the town of Neunhofen in Thuringia. On 29 May 1849, Zeiss married the clergyman’s daughter, Bertha Schatter.

Years later Zeiss confided in his friend K.O. Beck that he had made a good choice in his union with Bertha, even though the bride had virtually no wealth of her own. The couple’s wedded bliss was short-lived, however: Bertha died the day after giving birth to her first son Roderich on 23 February 1850. She was just 22 years old.

In 1853 Zeiss remarried, this time to Ottilie Trinkler, the daughter of a clergyman from the town of Triptis in eastern Thuringia, who was distantly related to Zeiss’s first wife. Carl Zeiss himself subsequently referred to both his wives affectionately as “spiritually very much country folk.”

His marriage to Ottilie produced three children: Karl Otto (1854–1925), Hedwig (1856–1935) and Sidonie (1861–1920).

Carl Zeiss’s eldest son initially studied medicine. In the war of 1870/71, he sustained an injury to his hand that dashed his hopes of becoming a surgeon. Upon his father’s request, he therefore opted for a commercial apprenticeship. In 1876, he joined the company and assumed responsibility for the commercial matters. He made remarkable achievements in photomicrography. In 1879, he became co-owner of the company.

Ernst Abbe, who did not shy away from taking risks, and Roderich, who was more of a cautious businessman, did not get along. Roderich thus left the company in 1889, making it possible to transfer it to the hands of the Carl Zeiss Foundation.

Roderich Zeiss married his cousin Therese Schatter (1864 - 1949). Their union produced two children.

Sidonie was a gifted musician and artist. She spent her entire life making music in her home town. In 1882, she married medical officer of health Lucas Siebert (1841–1913). Their marriage produced two children. She enjoyed traveling, especially to Italy and to the Bayreuth Festival.

In 1878, she married grammar school teacher Prof. Konrad Sagawe (1853–1939) and moved to Wroclaw to be with him. Their marriage produced two children.

Otto Zeiss studied medicine and set up as a doctor in Erfurt. As a privy medical counselor he opened the first gynecological clinic in Erfurt.

His first wife was Franziska Thierbach (1862–1885), and his second wife was the daughter of a manufacturer from Westphalia, Ida Möllmann (1865–1936). These marriages produced five children.