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Marga Faulstich – The Master of Optical Glasses

Marga Faulstich was a Glass Chemist from Germany born who worked for Schott AG for 44 years, during which she worked on 300 t
Marga Faulstich was a Glass Chemist from Germany born who worked for Schott AG for 44 years, during which she worked on 300 types of optical glasses.

Index:

  1. Introduction
  2. Marga Faulstich and her Early Life
  3. Marga Faulstich’s Career and Major Works
  4. Marga Faulstich and her Achievements

1. Introduction

Marga Faulstich

Marga Faulstich was a Glass Chemist from Germany born on 16th June 1915. She was born in Weimar and worked for Schott AG for 44 years, during which she worked on 300 types of optical glasses. She became the first woman executive, and 40 patents were registered under her name.

2. Marga Faulstich and her Early Life

Marga Faulstich

Marga Faulstich had two siblings, and her family moved to Jena in 1922, where Marga attended her secondary school. She graduated from high school in 1935 and began her training as a graduate assistant at Schott AG, which was one of the leading manufacturers of technical and optical glasses in Europe. During the start of her career, she worked on the development of thin films. Her findings from her primary research are still used for the manufacturing of anti-reflective lenses, glass facades, and sunglasses.

3. Marga Faulstich’s Career and Major Works

Marga Faulstich was a talented woman who, at a very young age, advanced her career through tremendous potential and hard work. She became a technician from a graduate assistant very soon and then managed to become a scientific assistant and soon, a renowned scientist.

The death of her fiance aroused her from inside, due to which she focused more on her work.

In 1942 she managed to study chemistry while still working at Schott. As the situations after the Second World War changed, she could not complete her studies.

Jena had the best glassmaking facility despite belonging to a Soviet Occupied zone. The Western Allies wanted to take full advantage of this outstanding facility, and thus, 41 managers and specialists were sent to the Western Sector, which included Marga Faultstich.

The plant in Jena was expropriated in 1948, and therefore, the division of Germany was also established in the year 1949. The new plant was decided to be built in Mainz for those 41 glassmakers of the Schott AG.

Marga Faulstich continued working on the new plant in 1952 on the outskirts of Mainz-Neustadt. She worked on research and development, which focused straight on the focus on lenses for microscopes, binoculars, and optical glasses. In addition to this, she also managed a crucible melt.

4. Marga Faulstich and her achievements:

a) She received her international recognition in 1973 for the invention of the lightweight lens – SF 64.

b) In the year 1979, she retired from Schott AG, after which she traveled to distant places, giving presentations and lectures at glass conferences.

Marga Faulstich

c) Google honored her on its homepage in a doodle on 16th June 2018.

d) She made her lifetime contribution to the international glass manufacturing company called Schott AG.

e) In the year 1973, Marga Faulstich received an INR 100 award for inventing an SF64 lightweight lens from the American Industrial Research Council.

f) She has forty patents under her work.

Marga Faulstich died at the age of 82 on 1st February 1998 in Mainz.

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