| condenser, Abbe | <microscopy> Originally a two-lens substage condenser combination designed by Ernst Abbe. It lacks chromatic correction though designed for a minimum of spherical aberration and has only a very low-angle aplanatic cone. It may be rated with a numerical aperture as high as 1.3. (05 Aug 1998) |
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| Ernst Abbe | <person> German mathematician and physicist, professor at Jena, and inventor of much optical apparatus at the Zeiss works. His inventions include the apochromatic objective, the compensating ocular, the Abbe condenser, a well corrected oil-immersion achromatic condenser, the immersion objective, Abbe apertometre, Abbe refractometre, and the drawing camera, he evolved the Abbe theory of resolution and microscope imagery, the numerical aperture formula, and other optical theories. Lived: 1840-1905. (05 Aug 1998) |