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Microscope Museum Collection of antique microscopes and other
scientific instruments |
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Microscope
448 (Ernst Leitz;
stereoscopic binocular microscope; c. 1958) In 1849, Karl Kellner founded the
Optical Institute in Wetzlar, Germany, which in a few years had microscopes
as the main product. The company hired an engineer named Ernst Leitz in 1865,
who soon became a partner. Leitz took over the company in 1869 and renamed it
Optical Institute of Ernst Leitz. Ernst Leitz died in 1920, and his son Ernst
Leitz II became the sole owner of the business. During the 1970s, competition
increased from several companies in Japan, especially Olympus and Nikon,
which were producing modern microscope designs of excellent quality at
relatively low prices. Several venerable microscope companies closed, merged,
or were bought out in Europe and the USA. Wild Heerbrugg bought the majority
ownership of the Leitz Wetzlar company in 1974, but Leitz continued to develop
their new lines of compound microscopes. The last member of the Leitz family
retired from the board of directors in 1986. At the beginning of 1987, Ernst
Leitz Wetzlar GmbH and Wild Heerbrugg AG merged to form the Wild Leitz Group.
The Wild Leitz Group was broken into smaller companies in 1988, and Leica
Camera was split off. The merger of Wild Leitz Holding AG with the Cambridge
Instrument Company in 1990 created the new Leica Holding B.V. group. The
Leica name is now used for all microscopes and other scientific optical
instruments. Microscope 448 is a stereoscopic binocular microscope in which
the head is labelled with “ERNST LEITZ GmbH, WETZLAR, GERMANY” and the serial
number 524910. The base is also labelled with “E Leitz, Wetzlar, Germany”.
The instrument should be dated to c. 1958. Note: this instrument was kindly
donated by Dave Levell (Pembrokeshire, Wales) in May 2023. |