Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

Zeiss, this is a respectable name in the field of optics.

This optical giant, with countless "most", it has created a brilliant history of 160 years: it is one of the oldest precision optical instrument manufacturers, the most precise scientific design, the most exquisite quality, the largest overall scale, the largest variety of products, the widest coverage, the largest number of innovative projects, the broadest development areas, and the most abundant human resources.

After the industrial revolution in the second half of the 18th century, large-scale industrial production replaced handicraft labor and promoted the development of social economy. The start of heavy industry calls for precision and optical instruments, and the great development of optical precision instruments has become a historical necessity. The demand of society finally ushered in an important day in the history of world optics. On November 17, 1846, Zeiss, a precision and optical instrument company, was established in Jena, Germany. The name of the company comes from Carl Zeiss, a German optologist and its first founder.

Born in poverty, Carl Zeiss was far from home after graduating from high school, followed by an apprentice mechanic and supplier Frederick Colner, and soon became an excellent optical mechanic.

Beginning in 1839, as an apprentice, he took courses in mechanics, physical experiments, anthropology, mineralogy and optics at the University of Jena.

Seven years later, at the age of 30, he started Zeiss. At the beginning, the scale of the company was not so large, it was more of a workshop than a company, undertaking some simple instrument repair business, mainly repairing experimental instruments such as scales, scales and magnifying glasses for the University of Jena.

In the second year of the establishment of the early Zeiss company, he followed the advice of his optics instructor and set the company's main goal on the microscope. At that time, the "microscope" was just a magnifying glass with a slightly larger magnification.

In 1847, Zeiss invented a single-lens microscope with excellent performance, which was so popular because of its fine processing, simplicity and practicality that 23 units were sold that year. In 1857, Zeiss successfully designed and manufactured the world's first microscope with a combination of eyepiece and objective lens.

Microscope "Standard 1" at the Tulingen Industrial Fair in 1861, this combined microscope became popular and was recognized as the best instrument in Germany at that time and won a gold medal. In 1866, the company won 1000 orders for microscopes, and Zeiss began to make its mark in European industry.

The ambitious Zeiss saw the momentum of the company's development, and in 1866, to adapt to the development of the company, he made a bold decision to hire Ernst Abbe, a 26-year-old lecturer at the University of Jena at the time.

After six years of cooperation, in 1872, Abe quit his job at the University of Jena and officially joined Zeiss. The expert, known for the optical theory of microscopes, then introduced Otto Schott, a 30-year-old chemist who had just received his doctorate, who became famous for studying glass chemistry. At this time, with the "troika" escort Zeiss like a tiger to add wings, came into being Zeiss rapid development and growth.

After the death of Zeiss in 1888, Abe took over the management of Zeiss, and short became the company's technical director. They also hired physicist and mathematician Paul Rudolph (figure 6), the most famous designer in the history of lens manufacturing. Rudolph also became one of the founders of Zeiss, who still dominates the world with a tripod.

Paul Rudolph Zeiss, who is led by technological innovation, created many classic designs in the lens industry. In 1890, Rudolph's first anastigmatic photographic lens (Anastigmat) ushered in a new era of Zeiss lenses.

In 1896, Rudolph created the famous "Planar", which became the starting pillar of Zeiss, an optical giant, and it is also the general ancestor of all standard lenses today. "Planner" 50mm F1.4 is the most excellent one of Zeiss lenses, and it is Pullner's masterpiece. It adopts double-Gaussian structure and can excellently correct various aberrations. Since then, various brands of lenses around the world have learned from this design. Therefore, it is known as "King of Standard Lens". At present, after incorporating many elements of the new era, the "Plana" structure has developed into an ethnic header lens system.

In 1902, Rudolph successfully designed four more three sets of Eagle Eye lenses-- Tessar. The strange design of "Tiansai" is composed of four lenses, its structure is simple and compact, and the image quality is shocking. Not only the center of the image is clear, but also clear details can be obtained in the four corners of the picture. In 1932, Zeiss produced paraxial cameras and developed "Contax" lenses. Then "Kangtai" led the world and was known as the king of lenses in the world.

For more than 160 years, Zeiss lenses have always been the leading brand of German cameras and have long been famous all over the world. In the following hundred years, they were widely used in various fields. From the most widely used "Planner" to the large aperture lens "Sonnar", from the large wide-angle lens "Holgon" to the "Biogon" designed for paraxial cameras, and so on, from design to manufacture, each lens has been endowed with very different characteristics.

They are fine in structure and exquisite in materials, and each dominates in different focal sections. The multi-layer coating on the glass lens shines brilliantly, which optimizes the incoming light properly, removes the harmful noise in the imaging to the maximum, and gives full play to the advantages of the glass lens with good material.

The 160-year optical history of various Zeiss lenses has created a huge kingdom of Zeiss lenses, which are loved by photographers all over the world because of their unique color restoration and imaging characteristics.

Nowadays, it is hard for people to imagine that these lenses, which were designed and manufactured more than a hundred years ago, only relied on mathematicians to calculate with their bare hands, and without the help of computer programs and automated processing, have been able to survive a hundred years without losing their elegant demeanor. it has always been a model for newcomers. Modern Nikon and Canon all started and grew little by little under the leadership of Zeiss lens.

The kingdom of Zeiss also has its ups and downs.

On February 14, 1945, the Zeiss camera factory in Dresden was bombed during World War II, and post-war Germany was divided into two. Zeiss's bases in Jena and Dresden were all occupied by the Soviets, and the factory equipment was almost completely dismantled. The main body of the equipment was moved to Kiev. However, the tottering Zeiss bloodline-its talent and technology still exist, Zeiss, which is divided into East and West Germany, struggled and was reborn again.

The Zeiss in East Germany is named after Carl Zeiss Jena, while the Zeiss in West Germany is named Carl Zeiss. Both sides follow the Zeiss tradition and boast that Zeiss is authentic.

It is this competition that makes Zeiss more perfect in optical technology. After the reunification of Germany and Germany, the two Zeiss joined forces, headquartered in Obercohen, with 3500 employees and branches around the world. Zeiss blossomed all over the world, and Zeiss, with a combination of swords and swords, is still the number one in the field of optics in the world.

Zeiss can be called the ancestor of the microscope and the founder of the international microscopic standard. Up to now, 80% of the world microscope manufacturing standards still use the production standards of the Zeiss factory as the benchmark. The combination of scientific and technological innovation and theoretical development is the secret of Zeiss's success in taking the lead in the optical field.

The work done by Abe, one of the founders of Zeiss, on the basis of microscopic imaging theory is still the theoretical basis of modern microscopic optical systems. This relationship between theory and practice not only accelerates the development of theory and products, but also makes Zeiss always in the leading position of optical technology. It can be said that the development history of Zeiss is a history of modern optics.

As a result of adhering to the tradition of innovation, Zeiss has always had a wide range of patents and proprietary technology. In addition to lens and microscopic technology, Zeiss is in a leading position in modern electron optics with the development of ion technology and electron beam analysis technology.

Over the years, it made several firsts: in 1949, the first electrostatic projection electron microscope; in 1965, the first commercial scanning electron microscope; in 1985, the first digital scanning electron microscope; in 1990, the first field emission scanning electron microscope; in 1992, the first transmission electron microscope with an imaging filter; in 2003, the first 200 kV field emission transmission electron microscope with Kohler illumination In 2003, the first field emission transmission electron microscope with in-tube corrected omega energy filter was set up.

In recent years, the micro-lithography technology developed by Zeiss has become a typical example of Zeiss's continuous innovation ability. From computers to mobile phones, from navigation devices to tablet computers, all these products use microchips, and the key link of microchip fabrication is microlithography. Microlithography technology uses the principle of optical projection to project the microcircuit structure onto the chip with zero error rate. The development of micro-lithography technology can best represent Zeiss's innovation ability. Experts can imagine how challenging this trend is for Zeiss, who has always been familiar with optical lens production. The imaging quality of the lens depends to a large extent on the area of the sensor and the distance between the lenses. It is very difficult to make the lens in a very narrow space. In order to meet this challenge, Zeiss engineers must accurately measure the lens system from the moment of the new product idea, and the core is to ensure strict accuracy.

Micro-lithography technology began with the wave of computer revolution in the second half of the 20th century. In 2001, in order to catch up with the inevitable trend of this historical development, Zeiss resolutely merged the ion optics technology and optoelectronic technology departments and established the Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology Co., Ltd.

Over the next decade, Zeiss made continuous breakthroughs in microlithography technology: in 2006, the world's most advanced microlithography system R & D and production center was established in Obercohen; in 2007, the first immersion microlithography system was launched. its introduction provides the highest resolution for microlithography, making it the most successful innovation in the field of semiconductor devices and the best-selling product in Zeiss's history. This innovation once again opens a new door for Zeiss, an established optical company, and enables Zeiss to continue to lead in the global market for new optical technologies.

How can Zeiss maintain 160 years of glory? This is due to Zeiss's unique development of "genes" and the foresight of decision-makers.

First, the company attaches importance to forward-looking development in unknown areas and does not hesitate to invest. In 2013, in order to develop cutting-edge projects, the company invested 411 million euros in R & D, accounting for 10% of the company's revenue, with 2700 R & D employees, accounting for 11% of the total.

In addition, Zeiss has established a close cooperative network with universities and scientific research institutes all over the world and maintained the closest R & D exchanges with cutting-edge departments. Special capital investment and personnel structure arrangements make Zeiss invest a lot of resources in basic and forward-looking research and development.

Second, the forward-looking decision of the company's leadership ensures the development direction of the company. After the death of Zeiss in 1888, in order to ensure the sustainable development of the company and avoid being carved up as a legacy after the death of the owner, Abe, a partner, established the Carl Zeiss Foundation and transferred all his shares and funds to the foundation.

A few years later, Abbe institutionalized the management of the foundation, setting the tone for the company's long-term development: this is Zeiss's permanent focus on scientific research and innovation, and the company's core business is always the production of precision optical instruments. The funds of the foundation are used to support scientific research projects in colleges and universities, and most of the profits are also used to improve existing products, create new products and improve employee welfare. These humane management strategies not only improve the work efficiency of employees, but also absorb high-quality talents.

At present, Zeiss, headquartered in Obercohen, Germany, has six independent business departments, including industrial measuring instruments, microscopes, medical instruments, optical glasses, optoelectronic devices and nanotechnology. It has 14 factories, 45 sales centers and more than 100 business representative offices in more than 30 countries around the world, with more than 24000 staff members all over the world.

Zeiss headquarters from the vast starry sky to the nano-world, from photographic equipment to electronics, Zeiss's technology has penetrated into all aspects of human life, more than 40 Nobel laureates use Zeiss's microscope in their projects.

From photos of man's first footprints on the moon to microchips of 50% of the world's computers and intelligent terminal devices, from precision parts of F1 racing cars to superb brain surgery, from large observatories to personal glasses, from cars to machinery manufacturing industries, from satellite aerial photography and aerial measurements to Hollywood famous blockbuster production, the wide range of applications and variety is explained. High-tech products are inseparable from this century-old optical giant-Zeiss.

Wen Yuan: 365 days in the History of Science, slightly deleted

Author: Wei Fengwen and Wu Yi

Editor: Zhang Runxin

This article is from the official account of Wechat: Origin Reading (ID:tupydread), author: 365 days in the History of Science

Welcome to subscribe "Shulou Technology Information " to get latest news, interesting things and hot topics in the IT industry, and controls the hottest and latest Internet news, technology news and IT industry trends.