• Born: Eisenach --- 23^rd January 1840
• Died: Jena --- 14^th January 1905
• Physicist
• Developed optical instruments
• Educated: Universities of Jena & Göttingen

Carl Zeiss was a manufacturer who supplied the University of Jena with optical instruments. He recognised that he needed a physicist to undertake the elaborate calculations required to develop high quality optical instruments.

Otto Schott was the son of a glass manufacturer. He had been doing experiments with lithium glass, but then experimented with borate and phosphate glass to find a kind of glass with the optical properties needed for compound microscope lenses.