Ernst Abbe

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Ernst Abbe
Ernst Karl Abbe (1840-1905)
Born	January 23, 1840(1840-01-23) Eisenach, Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach
Died	January 14, 1905 (aged 64) Jena, German Empire
Residence	Germany
Nationality	German
Fields	Physicist
Institutions	University of Jena
Alma mater	University of Göttingen University of Jena
Doctoral advisor	Wilhelm Weber Karl Snell
Doctoral students	Heinrich Friedrich Weber
Known for	Abbe refractometer Abbe number

Ernst Karl Abbe (January 23, 1840 – January 14, 1905) was a German physicist, optometrist, entrepreneur, and social reformer. Together with Otto Schott and Carl Zeiss, he laid the foundation of modern optics. Abbe developed numerous optical instruments. He was a co-owner of Carl Zeiss AG, a German manufacturer of optical systems.

The Chambers Biographical Dictionary says of him that "he was inventor of the arrangement known as Abbe's homogenous immersion."^[1]

Contents 1 Personal Life 2 Life Work 3 See also 4 References 5 Further reading 6 External links

[edit] Personal Life

Abbe was born January 23, 1840 in Eisenach, Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. He came from humble homes - his father was a foreman in a spinnery. Supported by his father's employer, Abbe was able to attend secondary school and to obtain the general qualification for university entrance with fairly good grades. By the time he left school, his scientific talent and his strong will had already become obvious. Thus, in spite of the family's strained financial situation, his father decided to support Abbe's studies at the Universities of Jena (1857-1859) and Göttingen (1859-1861). During his time as a student, Abbe gave private lessons to improve his income. His father's employer continued to fund him. Abbe was awarded his PhD in Göttingen on March 23, 1861. This was followed by two short assignments at the Göttingen observatory and at Physikalischer Verein in Frankfurt (an association of citizens interested in physics and chemistry that was founded by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in 1824 and still exists today). On August 8, 1863 he qualified as a university lecturer at the University of Jena. In 1870, he accepted a contract as an Extraordinary Professor in Jena. In 1871, he married Else Snell, daughter of the mathematician and physicist Karl Snell, one of Abbe's teachers. He became director of the Jena observatory in 1878. In 1889, he became a member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities. He also was a member of the Saxon Academy of Sciences. He was relieved of his teaching duties at the University of Jena in 1891. Abbe died January 14, 1905 in Jena.

[edit] Life Work

He designed the first refractometer, which he described in a booklet published in 1874.^[2] He created the Abbe number, a measure of any transparent material's variation of refractive index with wavelength. Already a professor in Jena, he was hired by Carl Zeiss to improve the manufacturing process of optical instruments, which back then was largely based on trial and error. In a long and fruitful collaboration, Abbe created the mathematical foundation of microscope design, which became essential for the later preeminent position of the Carl Zeiss AG company. In particular, he discovered the Abbe sine condition, a breakthrough in lens design. He also invented the Abbe condenser, used for microscope illumination.^[3] During his association with Carl Zeiss' microscope works, he also introduced the eight-hour workday, in remembrance of the 14-hour workday of his own father.

The crater Abbe on the Moon was named in his honour.

[edit] See also

• Abbe prism
• Abbe refractometer
• Abbe error
• Aberration in optical systems
• Calculation of glass properties

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ernst Abbe

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

• Gunther, N. (1970). "Abbe, Ernst". Dictionary of Scientific Biography (New York, NY, USA: Charles Scribner's Sons) 1: pp. 6-9. 

• Sella, Andrea (November 2008). "Abbé's refractometer". Chemistry World: 67. http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/Issues/2008/November/AbbesRefractometer.asp. 

[edit] External links

• Paselk, Richard A.. "The Evolution of the Abbe Refractometer". http://www.humboldt.edu/~scimus/Essays/EvolAbbeRef/EvolAbbeRef.htm. 
• Basic Principles of Refractometers (and Polarimeters)
• O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Ernst Abbe", MacTutor History of Mathematics archive .
• Molecular Expressions's biography
• Works by Ernst Abbe at Project Gutenberg

Persondata
NAME	Abbe, Ernst Karl
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	German Physicist
DATE OF BIRTH	January 23, 1840
PLACE OF BIRTH	Eisenach, Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach
DATE OF DEATH	January 14, 1905
PLACE OF DEATH	Jena, Germany