A Long Story of Success

A Microscopy Journey Through Time

Carl Zeiss opens a workshop for precision mechanics and optics in Jena.

Simple microscope with doublet and triplet optics. Production of simple microscopes begins.

Carl Zeiss sells his first compound microscope.

Begin of partnership with Ernst Abbe.

Illumination apparatus with focusable condenser: Ernst Abbe

Ernst Abbe's research results allow microscope optics to be produced on the basis of mathematical calculations for the first time.

Partnership between Zeiss, Abbe and Schott. Optical glass from Otto Schott enables more effectively corrected microscope systems. © Carl Bräunlich, ZEISS Archives.

First apochromatic microscope lens, a color-corrected objective lens for three wavelengths based on the calculations of Ernst Abbe.

Illumination device with separate control of the luminous field and condenser aperture: August Köhler (1866-1948).

ZEISS manufactures the first Greenough-type stereomicroscope.

Invention of the ultramicroscope by Henry Siedentopf and Richard A. Zsigmondy.

Beginning of TEM development by/at AEG

First prototype of a phase-contrast microscope based on Zernike's original design; he wins the Nobel Prize in 1953.

Plan Apochromats and Plan Achromats with a flat image field for micro-photography based on calculations by Hans Boegehold (1876-1965).

Cooperation for electron microscopy started by AEG and ZEISS.

Electrostatic AEG-ZEISS transmission electron microscope EM 8.

The Standard microscope becomes one of the most successful models in the history of ZEISS.

Beginning of SEM development in association with the Cambridge University. Cambridge Instruments establishes as a scientific instrument company by Horace Darwin.

Cambridge Scientific Instruments releases the first commercial SEM, the Stereoscan Mark I.

Axiomat, a microscope with unparalleled stability and image quality.

The laser scanning microscope, a microscope system with object scanning through an oscillating laser beam and electronic image processing.

EM 902 with imaging electron energy filter becomes first system on the market to generate high-resolution element mapping images.

ZEISS launches the first fully digital SEM, the DSM 950.

ZEISS unveils the "pyramids", a new generation of microscopes. The design includes special features of Axioplan, Axiophot, and Axiothron: ICS (Infinity Color Corrected System) and SI (System Integration).

Market launch of DSM 982 GEMINI field emission scanning electron microscope featuring combined electrostatic-magnetic lens (GEMINI technology).

Founding of LEO Electron Microscopy 50/50 Cooperation between ZEISS and Leica.

PlasDIC by ZEISS allows the use of plastic dishes for microscopic examinations.

LEO fully integrated in ZEISS as Nano Technology Systems Division.

The LSM 5 LIVE, a light microscope, with which living cells can be examined 20 times faster and in a particularly gentle manner, enters series production in Jena and receives the R&D Award for its performance in real-time research.

ZEISS introduces the ORION helium-ion microscope. Samples are scanned with helium ions instead of electrons. This provides markedly better resolution and improved material contrast.

The first super-resolution microscope system ELYRA PS.1 from ZEISS includes structured illumination microscopy (SIM) and photoactivated localization microscopy (PALM) modes. It is far surpassing the diffraction barrier and enables the observation of structural details with unprecedented accuracy.

Carl Zeiss NTS GmbH and Carl Zeiss MicroImaging GmbH jointly form the new ZEISS Microscopy business group offering light and electron microscopes to customers.

ZEISS introduces its first light sheet microscope system: ZEISS Lightsheet Z.1 works with an expanded light beam, the light sheet, that illuminates only a thin section of the sample, thus protecting the rest of the specimen. Biologists can use the microscope system to observe the development of entire organisms over several days or more.

With the acquisition of U.S.-based Xradia, Inc. ZEISS Research Microscopy Solutions becomes the only manufacturer of light, electron and X-ray microscopes, with unique solutions for research and routine inspection in materials and life sciences application fields.

ZEISS MultiSEM 505, a 61-beam (multi-beam) SEM and fastest SEM in the world, is introduced to the market.

APEER image analysis cloud platform is launched to a small group of people, being rapidly adapted by the academic community.

Based on the pioneering research and developments of Ernst H. K. Stelzer and Nobel laureate Eric Betzig, ZEISS Lattice Lightsheet 7 allows researchers to observe cellular processes within cells and small organisms in 3D for hours or days – all at subcellular resolution.

ZEISS experts Dr. Thomas Kalkbrenner, Dr. Jörg Siebenmorgen, and Ralf Wolleschensky win the Deutscher Zukunftspreis 2022 for their significant contribution in the development of the microscope system ZEISS Lattice Lightsheet 7.

ZEISS is fully acquiring and integrating arivis AG, offering a scientific image analysis ecosystem to researchers and creating a sub-product category for file format-agnostic software called ‘ZEISS arivis’. At the same time, APEER is becoming arivis Cloud.