Marga Faulstich (1915–1998): The Glassmaker

For over four decades, Marga Faulstich conducted research for the Schott company. She developed lightweight spectacle lenses as well as numerous optical glasses for telescopes and microscopes.

Anyone who opened the Google search engine on 16 June 2018 would have seen in the Doodle – the modified Google logo (see below in the article) – a dark-haired woman surrounded by laboratory equipment and glass vessels, looking through two round lenses of different colours. With the illustration, the US corporation commemorated the glass researcher Marga Faulstich, who would have turned 103 that day.

Born on 16 June 1915 in Weimar, Faulstich moved with her family to Jena in 1922. There she attended a secondary school, which she completed with her Abitur. In 1935, she began training as a scientific assistant at the Jena Glassworks Schott. The company was one of Europe’s leading manufacturers of optical and technical special glasses.

During her early years at Schott, Faulstich worked on thin glass coatings. In 1939, the research group in which she was involved filed a patent that has since served as the basis for manufacturing sunglasses, anti-reflective spectacle lenses and glass façades. Over time, a further 40 patents used worldwide followed with Faulstich’s involvement.

Faulstich rapidly progressed in her career at Schott: from scientific assistant, she first became a laboratory technician, then a scientific assistant and finally an independently working researcher. Following the death of her fiancé during the Second World War, she devoted herself exclusively to her professional life. Alongside her work at Schott, she began studying chemistry at Friedrich Schiller University in Jena in 1942. However, amid the turmoil of the war, she was unable to complete her studies with an examination.

After the Second World War, Jena, world-famous for its advanced glassmaking expertise, was part of the Soviet occupation zone. As the Western Allies wanted to benefit from the accumulated knowledge and expertise of the glass industry, they brought 41 specialists and executives, including Faulstich, to the American occupation zone. A provisional research laboratory was established in Landshut, Bavaria, as early as 1949.

Following the expropriation of the Jena Schott works in 1948 and the division of Germany the following year, the businessman Erich Schott (1891–1989) negotiated with the city of Mainz about relocating the glassworks to the site of a former slaughterhouse. A new Schott plant began production there in May 1952.

Faulstich became Schott’s first female executive in Mainz. She researched and developed new glasses, especially special glasses for microscopes and telescopes, and, alongside her research activities, managed a crucible melt for 16 years. She gained particular international recognition for inventing the lightweight spectacle lens Schwerflint 64 (SF 64). Instead of the heavy metal lead, it contains titanium and therefore weighs considerably less. The US Industrial Research Corporation ranked SF 64 among the hundred most important innovations of 1973 and awarded Faulstich the Industrial Research 100 Medal for it. In total, more than 300 types of optical glass are attributable to the ingenuity of this remarkable researcher.

After 44 years working for Schott, Marga Faulstich retired in 1979. She died in Mainz on 1 February 1998 at the age of 82.

Literature
Schott Glaswerke (ed.): From Jena to Mainz – and back. Schott’s history between the Cold War and German reunification, Mainz, 1995