Lothar Kölsch

Curriculum Vitae - Lothar Kölsch

• Degree in geodesy from the University of Applied Sciences of Frankfurt in 1978
• From 1979 lens designer at Carl Zeiss Oberkochen; focus on fundamentals of zoom lenses and development of photographic lenses
• From 1986 head of the lens design department for consumer optics at Wild Leitz Wetzlar; development of photographic lenses, mainly zoom lenses, and binoculars
• In 1990 change to Leica Camera; set up of lens design department;

     training of lens designers; setup of aspheric metrology

• From 1992 in addition head of mechanical design of photographic lenses; development of many products (lenses, binoculars, eye-pieces, illumination systems); project management; technical assistance to the shop; strategic planning of product programs for photography and binoculars
• From 1997 in addition head of camera development
• From 1999 to 2002 vice-president R&D; responsible for the departments:

     - optical design, mechanical design of photographic lenses
     - electronics and electronic imaging
     - sport optics, binoculars and spotting scopes
     - camera development

     "I am married and father of two children; I like smoking pipe, drinking tea and jogging."