Although the first theoretical derivations of were published by others, it is fair to say that Abbe was the first to reach this conclusion experimentally.
Abbe je leta 1874 v članku z naslovom »"A Contribution to the Theory of the Microscope and the nature of Microscopic Vision"« trdil, da je ločljivost mikroskopa obratno sorazmerna njegovi aperturi, vendar formule za omejitev ločljivosti mikroskopov ni navedel.