Hans Janssen and Zacharias Janssen are held to be the inventors of the microscope, according to the recorded letters of the Dutch envoy, William Boreel. The invention was around the year 1595. Galileo Galilei developed a compound microscope using a convex and a concave lens in the year 1609. The formulation of Christian Huygens in the 17th century, the simple 2-lens ocular system with achromatic correction is popular even today. Anton van Leeuwenhoek popularized the functionality of the instrument among the biologists and the credibility, the “Father of Microscopy” is generally awarded to him. Leeuwenhoek made his famous single lens microscope in the year 1673.
During the beginning years of invention, the microscope was a toy in the rich houses. The first significant discovery using microscopes was about the circulating blood system of the human body. It then led to many valuable discoveries for mankind. The steps such as the correction of spherical aberration, use of achromatic lenses etc were appreciated during the 1820′s. August Kohler introduced the microscope lamp with filters in 1880. He also finalized the condenser position to provide the best image projection. The theory of the microscope was published by Ernst Abbe in 1873. In the same year, Ernst Leitz introduced the microscope with a revolving mount for 5 objectives. The oil immersion lens was used from the year 1878, and the apochromatic objective was introduced into microscopy by Ernst Abbe in1886.
The first commercial UV microscope was presented by Zeiss in 1904. In 1930, Fritz Zernike invented the phase contrast microscope, which helps to study transparent living things. The revolutionary TEM electron microscope of Ernst Ruska and Max Knoll was introduced in 1931 and the scanning electron microscope was evolved later in 1937. Yet another milestone in the history of microscopes is the scanning tunneling microscope invented in 1981 by Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer, which help to visualize the atomic level 3D structure of objects. The scanning laser confocal microscope was commercially available from 1983.
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Types of Microscopes
10 August 2010 8:30 PM |
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Microscopes range from the simple single lens microscope to the sophisticated ones with imaging systems. Microscopes differ on the basis of their resolution, magnification, illumination method, type of image, field of view, degree of automation etc. Depending on the radiation source, microscopes can be broadly...
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How Electron Microscopes Work
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Electron microscopes are among the most powerful magnifying tools on the planet. They use beams of electrons rather than conventional light to illuminate objects. The two main types of electron microscopes are transmission electron microscopes and scanning electron microscopes. Ernst Ruska and Max Knoll constructed...
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The History of the Microscope
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The first microscope was created hundreds of years ago. In the passing centuries, microscopes evolved into powerful, precise tools that allow scientists to view tiny objects at a level of detail that seems unreal. There are a wide array of available microscopes, from the compound...
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What are Scanning Tunneling Microscopes?
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The scanning tunneling microscope is used extensively to discover the topography of tiny particles. The scanning tunneling microscope produces a three dimensional replication of the object under study by creating a beam of electrons that is scanned over the surface of the subject. The electrons...
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What are Compound Microscopes?
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Most of the microscopes used today are compound. A compound microscope features two or more lenses. A hollow cylinder called the tube connects the two lenses. The top lens, the one people look through, is called the eyepiece. The bottom lens is known as the...
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Inexpensive Microscopes
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Inexpensive microscopes are comparatively low priced, which makes the optical resolution facility feasible for every one. Inexpensive microscopes resemble primitive models of the microscope. They are the basic models of a microscope with only the essential requirements for an enlarged vision of the object. They...
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Microscope FAQs
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A microscope is an optical instrument used to view extremely small objects, which are difficult to be seen by the naked eye. What are the different parts of a microscope? The major parts of a microscope are the lenses, the tube, the arm, the illuminator,...
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The Benefits of Stereo Microscopes
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Many people have trouble keeping one eye closed while peering through a microscope lens with the other eye. A stereo microscope eliminates the need to close one eye because it has two eyepieces. Stereo Microscopes have all of the features of conventional microscopes with some...
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The Benefits of Video Microscopes
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Most video microscopes are quite different from conventional microscopes. A video microscope is usually larger than a conventional microscope and is often bolted to a table. The microscope has different lenses than normal microscopes also. Video microscopes are often designed for situations in which the...
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Light Microscopes
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Light microscopes or bright field microscopes are the most basic form of microscopes. The original light microscope was invented way back in the 16th century. They are so called because they use light in the visible spectrum to illuminate the specimen. Light microscopes are extensively...