Zsigmondy was born in Vienna, Austrian Empire, to Hungarian parents Irma Szakmáry, a poet born in Martonvásár, and Adolf Zsigmondy Sr., a scientist from Bratislava who invented several surgical instruments for use in dentistry.
In 1902 the ultramicroscope was developed by Richard Adolf Zsigmondy (1865–1929) and Henry Siedentopf (1872–1940), working for Carl Zeiss AG.
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After a post-doc position with Alfred Stock in Berlin between 1917 and 1919 he worked at the University of Göttingen together with Richard Adolf Zsigmondy.