Microscope Museum

Collection of antique microscopes and other scientific instruments

 

    

Microscope 213 (Otto Himmler; dissecting microscope; early 20th century)

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Karl Otto Himmler was born in 1841 and was son of Karl Himmler, a shoemaker. Karl Otto Himmler worked for Ernst Gundlach in Berlin, and later for Wilhelm and Heinrich Seibert in Wetzlar, before establishing his own firm named Himmler & Barthning in Berlin in 1877. After a few years the company was just Otto Himmler, and manufactured microscopes and their accessories, and equipment for microphotography and projection. Himmler made also the first contact lenses to correct high myopia, after an order from August Muller in 1889. Karl Otto Himmler died at the age of 61 years, in 1903. Himmler’s firm traded from Simeonstrasse 27 (1879 – 1886), Brandenburgstrasse 9 (1887 – 1903) and Oranienburgerstrasse 65 N24 (1904 – 1943; the move to this address took place almost one year after Himmler’s death and his widow, Alwine Himmler, was listed as owner of the firm). Microscope 213 is a dissecting microscope signed with ‘O. Himmler, Berlin’ and has the serial number 25303. The instrument should be dated to the early 20th century.

 

 

References

Pearson RM. 2007. Karl Otto Himmler, manufacturer of the first contact lens. Contact Lens & Anterior Eye 30: 11 – 16

 

LAST EDITED: 05.09.2021