SCHOTT history

Within two years, Schott created new, marketable apochromatic lenses and by 1893 developed borosilicate glass, which was highly resistant to heat and suitable for use in thermometers, laboratory glassware, pharmaceutical tubing, and heat resistant cylinders used in incandescent gas lamps.

Abbe’s Foundation statute of 1896 forms the corporate constitution, which is one of the most important documents in German economic and social history.

In April 1945, both it and Zeiss were placed under the command of United States Air Force officers.

After the expropriation of the parent plant in Jena in 1948, the solidification of the political division of Germany was achieved a year later through the founding of the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic.

1963: Schott Group opens a New York sales office.

1967: The company's first United States manufacturing subsidiary formed.

The subsidiary became involved in the prescription eyeglass and sunglass market in 1970 when it acquired the Ophthalmic Glass Division of PPG Industries.

In 1980, the competing Schott entities in a divided Germany signed "divorce" papers, with the Schott Group gaining the rights to the "Schott" trademark and the East Germans securing the "Jena Glass" trademark.

The split appeared permanent but with the sudden collapse of the Soviet Union later in the decade and the reunification of Germany in 1990, negotiations commenced to reunite the company founded by Otto Schott as well as the Carl Zeiss Foundation.

To accommodate continued growth, Schott Corp. expanded its corporate headquarters in 1991.

In 1992, Schott Corp. formed a joint venture with the West Company to produce packaging products made out of specialty glass for use by the pharmaceutical industry.

In 1996, Schott Corp. added to its holdings Schott Gas Systems, Inc., dedicated to the development and manufacture of high tech burner media and gas burners, used in such applications as glass-ceramic gas cooktops, firelogs, space heaters, and dryers, as well as in industrial heating systems.

To take advantage of the robust data/communications technology sector, Schott Corp. launched a start-up business in 2000 called Schott Communications Technologies Inc.