Marga Faulstich (1915–1998): The glassmaker #

For more than four decades, Marga Faulstich carried out 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 a dark-haired woman surrounded by laboratory equipment and glass vessels, looking through two round lenses of different colours in the Doodle – a variation on the Google logo (see below in the article). With the illustration, the US company commemorated 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 the Realgymnasium, where she completed her secondary education. In 1935, she began training as a scientific assistant at the Schott glassworks in Jena. The company was one of Europe’s leading manufacturers of optical and technical specialty glasses.

In her early years at Schott, Faulstich worked on thin glass coatings. In 1939, the research group she was part of filed a patent that has since served as the basis for manufacturing sunglasses, anti-reflective spectacle lenses and glass facades. Over time, a further 40 patents involving Faulstich were put to use around the world.

Faulstich quickly advanced her career at Schott: from scientific assistant, she progressed to laboratory technician, then scientific assistant, and finally independent researcher. After her fiancé died during the Second World War, she devoted herself entirely to her career. Alongside her work at Schott, she began studying chemistry at Friedrich Schiller University in Jena in 1942. However, the turmoil of war prevented her from completing her studies with a final examination.

After the Second World War, Jena, world-famous for its advanced glassmaking, became part of the Soviet occupation zone. Since 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 set up in Landshut, Bavaria, as early as 1949.

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

Faulstich became Schott’s first female manager in Mainz. She researched and developed new types of glass, particularly specialty glasses for microscopes and telescopes, and ran a crucible melting operation for 16 years alongside her research work. She received particular international recognition for inventing the lightweight spectacle glass Schwerflint 64 (SF 64). Instead of the heavy metal lead, it contains titanium and is therefore significantly lighter. The US-based Industrial Research Incorporation named SF 64 one of the 100 most important innovations of 1973 and awarded Faulstich the Industrial Research 100 Medal. In total, more than 300 types of optical glass are attributable to this remarkable researcher’s ingenuity.

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

Literature
Schott Glaswerke (editor): From Jena to Mainz – and back. The history of Schott between the Cold War and German reunification, Mainz, 1995