ABBE, ERNST (184o-1905), German physicist, was born in Eisenach, Thuringia, Jan. 23, 1840. He was educated at Gottin gen and Jena. In 1863 he became an instructor, and in 187o wa s made a professor, in the University of Jena, at which in 1878 he was appointed director of the astronomical and meteorological observatories. In 1866 he became connected with the optical works of Carl Zeiss, was made a partner in 1875, and contributed in a very large degree through his experiments to the excellence of the instruments and lenses made by the firm. In 1884, with Zeiss and Schott, he established works for the produc tion of technical glass. Upon the death of Zeiss in 1888 he became the sole owner of the Zeiss optical works, which he reorganized as a co-operative establishment in the profits from which the officials, the workmen and the university participated. He in vented the Abbe refractometer and made many improvements in microscopic and photographic lenses. His Gesammelte Abhand lungen were published in 1903-06. He died in Jena, Jan. 14, 1905.
See F. Auersbach, Ernst Abbe (1918).