Ernst Abbe and His Contributions to Optics

In this chapter I suggest connections between the early life, education, and work experience of Ernst Abbe as well as his seminal contributions to optical metrology and his role as a social reformer. While several sources discuss what Abbe contributed during his career, I suggest links to help answer the question of what prompted him to do so? First, I posit that Abbe’s difficult and financially unstable early life led to his penchant to work as a social reformer at Zeiss Werke and at the University of Jena.