Ernst Abbe was probably the first optical engineer, designing and perfecting methods for manufacturing microscopes and lens systems of very high quality. Though he was a great scientist in his own right, he might have remained anonymous but for the foresight of his employer, Carl Zeiss (1816-1888). In his early twenties Abbe was working as a lecturer in Jena, Germany. He was recognized as being intelligent and industrious, particularly in mathematics, but he was unable to secure a professorial position at the university. In 1855 Zeiss, the owner and operator of a local company which built optical instruments, approached him. Zeiss had realized that the dramatic rise in scientific interest and research in Europe would create a demand for precision instruments--instruments his shop could easily provide. However, neither Zeiss nor his employees possessed the scientific knowledge to design such instruments. Abbe was hired as a consultant to mathematically design...