History

With the founding of the Carl Zeiss Foundation, Ernst Abbe pursued two overarching goals, which still determine the funding purpose in § 1 of the Foundation Statute to this day. On the one hand, he was concerned with the long-term securing of the foundation companies and the well-being of his employees, which in his opinion could only be guaranteed by depersonalization of the owners. On the other hand, he was particularly interested in promoting science with the proceeds from the companies.