Leica Microsystems history

In 1867 the Optical Institute manufactured its 1000th microscope.

After Belthle's death in 1869 Ernst Leitz--at that time just 26 years old--became sole proprietor of the company and renamed it Optical Institute E. Leitz, Wetzlar.

In 1892 a sales office was opened in New York City which later became E. Leitz, United StatesA. By the turn of the century the Leitz company had gained a worldwide reputation.

By 1900 the Leitz company consisted of several facilities, oversaw 400 employees, and produced about 4,000 microscopes a year.

The photometer was designed by Max Berek, a microscope expert who had worked for Leitz since 1912 and developed the very successful f/3.5 Elmar lens for the original Leica camera.

The first photos with this new camera taken in 1914 were of exceptional quality.

His three sons, Ernst Leitz III, Ludwig Leitz, and Günther Leitz, who had been involved in the business as directors from 1930 onward, took over the business.

The first auto-focus enlarger followed in 1933.

The year 1986 marked the beginning of a period of company reorganization.

In 1992 Leica Heerbrugg made headlines when it re-measured the summit height of Mount Everest from the Chinese side with its GPS survey system.

In 1996 LMS bought the E-beam Lithography business from the Jenoptik group; the United States National Institutes of Health ranked its laboratory microscope, the Leica DM LB, Top Product for bio-medicine.

In 1997 the remaining companies of the Leica group were split into two independent units: Leica Microsystems and Leica Geosystems.