The introduction of microscope at the beginning of the 17th century marked the

start of modern biology.

Microscopy revealed the previously unknown world of microorganisms, laying the groundwork
for cell theory. The growing importance of natural theology, partly a response to the rise of
mechanical philosophy, encouraged the growth of natural history (although it entrenched the
argument from design).
In the early 17th century, the micro-world of biology was just beginning to open up. A few
lensmakers and natural philosophers had been creating crude microscopes since the late 16th
century, and Robert Hooke published the seminal Micrographia based on observations with his
own compound microscope in 1665. But it was not until Antony van Leeuwenhoek's dramatic
improvements in lensmaking beginning in the 1670sultimately producing up to 200-fold
magnification with a single lensthat scholars discovered spermatozoa, bacteria, infusoria and
the sheer strangeness and diversity of microscopic life. Similar investigations by Jan
Swammerdam led to new interest in entomology and built the basic techniques of microscopic
dissection and staining.[31]
In Micrographia, Robert Hooke had applied the word cell to biological structures such as this
piece of cork, but it was not until the 19th century that scientists considered cells the universal
basis of life.
As the microscopic world was expanding, the macroscopic world was shrinking.
Cell theory, embryology and germ theory
Advances in microscopy also had a profound impact on biological thinking. In the early 19th
century, a number of biologists pointed to the central importance of the cell. In 1838 and 1839,
Schleiden and Schwann began promoting the ideas that (1) the basic unit of organisms is the cell
and (2) that individual cells have all the characteristics of life, though they opposed the idea that
(3) all cells come from the division of other cells. Thanks to the work of Robert Remak and
Rudolf Virchow, however, by the 1860s most biologists accepted all three tenets of what came to
be known as cell theory.[45]
Cell theory led biologists to re-envision individual organisms as interdependent assemblages of
individual cells. Scientists in the rising field of cytology, armed with increasingly powerful
microscopes and new staining methods, soon found that even single cells were far more complex
than the homogeneous fluid-filled chambers described by earlier microscopists. Robert Brown
had described the nucleus in 1831, and by the end of the 19th century cytologists identified many
of the key cell components: chromosomes, centrosomes mitochondria, chloroplasts, and other
structures made visible through staining. Between 1874 and 1884 Walther Flemming described
the discrete stages of mitosis, showing that they were not artifacts of staining but occurred in
living cells, and moreover, that chromosomes doubled in number just before the cell divided and
a daughter cell was produced. Much of the research on cell reproduction came together in August
Weismann's theory of heredity: he identified the nucleus (in particular chromosomes) as the
hereditary material, proposed the distinction between somatic cells and germ cells (arguing that
chromosome number must be halved for germ cells, a precursor to the concept of meiosis), and

adopted Hugo de Vries's theory of pangenes. Weismannism was extremely influential, especially
in the new field of experimental embryology.[46]
By the mid-1850s the miasma theory of disease was largely superseded by the germ theory of
disease, creating extensive interest in microorganisms and their interactions with other forms of
life. By the 1880s, bacteriology was becoming a coherent discipline, especially through the work
of Robert Koch, who introduced methods for growing pure cultures on agar gels containing
specific nutrients in Petri dishes. The long-held idea that living organisms could easily originate
from nonliving matter (spontaneous generation) was attacked in a series of experiments carried
out by Louis Pasteur, while debates over vitalism vs. mechanism (a perennial issue since the time
of Aristotle and the Greek atomists) continued apace.[47]
Other notable developments in the origins of biology came as the result of new instruments and
technologies, the most important of which was the microscope. Developed independently by
Robert Hooke (16351703) in England and Antony Van Leeuwenhoek (16321723) in the
Netherlands, the microscope revealed a previously unseen and entirely unimagined universe of
life. Robert Hooke first observed repeating units he described as "cells" in his Micrographia
(1665), while Leeuwenhoek observed varied motile organisms he described as "animalcules."
While the microscope opened up cytological and microbiological explorations, it also shattered
Aristotle's notion that life is organized along a scala naturae (ladder of nature), since new and
minute animal forms were not easily located on the ladder of creation. It also fueled the belief in
spontaneous generation. Pioneering the use of the microscope and its application to anatomy,
Marcello Malphighi (16281694), Italian professor of medicine and personal physician to Pope
Innocent XII, drawing on the previous work of Andrea Cesalpino and William Harvey, studied
the circulatory and respiratory systems of a range of animals (especially insects). He was one of
the first to study major organ groups such as the brain, lungs, and kidneys in diverse organisms.
Who invented the microscope?
A complete Microscope History
Like many inventions today there are disputes in origins of the original inventors.
The same dispute applies to who invented the microscope.

Dating back to the first century when glass was first invented, the Roman's were
investigating the use of glass and how viewing objects through it, made the objects
appear larger.

Then, in the 13th Salvino D'Armate from Italy, made the first eye glass, providing
the wearer with an element of magnification to one eye.

The earliest simple forms of magnification were magnifying glasses, usually about
6x - 10x and were used for inspecting tiny insects such as fleas, hence these early
magnifiers called "flea glasses".

Zacharias Jansen and the first compound microscope

Then, during the 1590's, two Dutch spectacle makers, Zacharias

Jansen and his father Hans started experimenting with these
lenses. They put several lenses in a tube and made a very
important discovery. The object near the end of the tube
appeared to be greatly enlarged, much larger than any simple
magnifying glass could achieve by itself.

Their first microscopes were more of a novelty than a scientific

tool since maximum magnification was only around 9x and the
images were somewhat blurry. Although no Jansen microscopes
survived, an instrument made for Dutch royalty was described as
being composed of "3 sliding tubes, measuring 18 inches long when fully extended,
and two inches in diameter". The microscope was said to have a magnification of 3x
when fully closed, and 9x when fully extended.

Although ordinary magnifying glasses are basically a simple

microscope, when we speak of the invention of the
microscope, we really mean the "compound microscope".
Compound microscopes feature two or more lenses,
connected by a hollow cylinder (tube). The top lens, the one
people look through, is called the eyepiece. The bottom lens is known as the
objective lens. So today, when we say "microscope," we really mean "compound
microscope".

There is a lens called "the objective" which produces a primary magnified image.
Then there is another lens called "the eyepiece" or "ocular," which magnifies that
first image. In actual practice, there are several lenses used for both the objective
and ocular, but the principle is that of two-stage magnification.

It is believed that Zacharias Jansen's father, Hans, helped him build the first
microscope in 1595. Zacharias wrote to a Dutch diplomat, William Boreel, about the

invention. When the physician of the French king inquired about the invention in the
1650's, Boreel recounted the design of the microscope.

Anton van Leeuwenhoek

It was Anton van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723), a Dutch draper and

scientist, and one of the pioneers of microscopy who in the late
17th century became the first man to make and use a real
microscope.

Van Leeuwenhoek achieved greater success than his

contemporaries by developing ways to make superior lenses,
grinding and polishing five hundred and fifty lenses to make his
new lens tube that had a magnifying power of 270x and could
view objects one millionth of a meter (other microscopes of the
time were lucky to achieve 50x magnification).

Van Leeuwenhoek made many biological discoveries using his microscopes. He was
the first to see and describe bacteria, yeast plants, the teeming life in a drop of
water, and the circulation of blood corpuscles in capillaries. During a long life he
used his lenses to make pioneer studies on an extraordinary variety of things, both
living and non living, and reported his findings in over a hundred letters to the Royal
Society of England and the French Academy.

Van Leewenhoek's work was verified and further developed by English scientist
Robert Hooke, who published the first work of microscopic studies, Micrographia, in
1665. Robert Hooke's detailed studies furthered study in the field of microbiology in
England and advanced biological science as a whole.

Hooke's Micrographia

Robert Hooke published Micrographia in 1665. It is his most famous work and is
notable for the stunning illustrations, drawn by Hooke himself. Microphagia presents
several accounts of Hooke's observations through the use of the microscope. He
looked at all sorts of things (snow, a needle, a razor, etc.) with a primitive
compound microscope, but his most significant observations were done on fleas and
cork. He observed the fleas under the microscope and was able to observe the tiny

hairs on the fleas' bodies. On the cork he saw pores. Upon examination of the pores,
he decided to call them "cells"; however, he did not know he had just discovered
plant cells.

Despite these great achievements in microscopy,

microscopes didn't change much over the next 200 years,
even though there were imperfections when viewing an
object due to the different refraction of light. In the 1850s,
German engineer Carl Zeiss began making refinements to
the lenses he used in the microscopes he manufactured. In the 1880s, Zeiss hired
glass specialist Otto Schott, who conducted research on optical glass, greatly
contributing to the improvement of the optical quality of the microscope.

We should also mention Ernst Abbe, who was hired by Zeiss to improve the
manufacturing process of optical instruments, which back then was largely based on
trial and error. In a long and fruitful collaboration, Abbe carried out theoretical
studies of optical principles, improving the understanding of the optical quality of a
microscope.

Modern compound microscopes

With the advancement of technology and improved optics, the

microscope as we know it today came into being.

The theoretical minimum size able to be viewed by an optical

microscope is 200nm (as defined by Abbe), since optical
microscopes are only able focus on objects that are at least the
size of a wavelength of light (usually, a wavelength of around
550 nm is assumed).

An electron microscope, in contrast, can magnify images thousands of times smaller

than a wavelength of light.

In a family of Holland, microscope was created in 1590. Zaccharias Janssen and his father Hans,
have found that if they put two such lenses in a cylinder, they could see very small things that
would increase even more than 10 times. Compared to the magnifying glass before, which used a

single lens, they were using now two or more lenses, which essentially were creating a
compound microscope.
Meanwhile, on the same principle,spyglass was created, based on two lenses placed in a
cylinder. But the spyglass could look away. Spyglass was very useful at sea, in search of land, or
on the battlefield, to spy on enemy movements remotely. This news about spyglass
invention came in the summer of 1609 to the ears of Galileo Galilei, who was on holiday, in
Venice. In one night, Galileo Galilei was able to build his own telescope, which was increasing
the image about 30 times. He perfected it in a few weeks and the increasing developed to 300
times.
Robert Hooke was the first man who used increasing new tools, to look in detail to the
small universe. Hooke focused on living organisms, whom details were too small to be seen
with the naked eye. Hooke looked carefully insects, worms, plants and so on.
And as always when a new scientific tool appears which allows the study of something that had
never studied, the surprises of nature appear as discoveries. These discoveries have
been presented in his book Micrographia, which he published in 1665, with detailed
description of his comments, book that is the first book in the world to popularize science,
speaking to ordinary people without scientific training.There was no need to be a scientist to
enjoy those files, that mankind first saw them.
The most important finding is the existence of cells in living organisms . Robert Hooke made
the discover about living cells and gave the name of cell, because cells reminded him of the cells
in a convent or prison.
Second, the microscope has allowed the first study in detail of the difference between living
shells and fossilized shells, and between wood and petrified wood. This allowed Hooke to be the
first man to deliver the assumption (which proved correct) about the process of fossilization, the
replacement of living tissue with minerals, but also keeping the shape of the alive original.
After the invention of the microscope , the knowledge of biology had become extensive. Inside
biology began to form many branches with well-defined areas of study. Some of these branches
are of mainly theoretical character as botany, zoology, taxonomy and other have predominantly a
practical nature, such as agriculture and horticulture.

Cell Theory and Microscopes

An Introduction to Microscopy
Proposed in 1838, over 150 years after Robert Hookes Micrographia, cell theory is the
foundation of modern biological sciences.

As microscopes became more sensitive and observational techniques allowed for the viewing
of internal cellular structure, the theory expanded; but the original three tenets have
remained the same.

Cellular Theory Defined

Classical cell theory, first proposed by Matthias Schleiden and Theodor Schwann, consisted
of three primary points:
1.

All living things are made up of cells.

2.

Cells are the basic units of structure, function and physiology in living things.

3.

Living cells can come only from other pre-existing cells.

4.

Modern cell theory adds two additional points.

5.

Cells contain and pass on hereditary information during cell division.

6.

All cells are relatively the same in relation to chemical composition and metabolic
activity.

The significance of this seemingly basic concept cannot be denied. At the foundation of
almost all sciences, including biological sciences, chemistry, physiology and medicine, is cell
theory.
This turning point proved on an elemental level cells are similar in the way they function and
reproduce and, with the advent of more advanced observation techniques, the differences
between cells relates to genetic make-up.

Robert Hooke (07/08/1635 03/03/1703)

Describing the appearance of a thin layer of cork tree, one of the many microscopy
documentations contained in the 1665 publication Micrographia, Robert Hooke is credited
with term cells.
Hooke likened the magnification of the corks box-like pores to a Monks living quarters,
known as a cell; of Latin origin, cella is translated as storeroom or small container.

Hooke did not identify any internal cellular structure, only the external walls of the dead
cork cells. Along with other scientists of that era, he thought the empty spaces might
transport fluids in plant-life.
Detailed illustrations of objects observed under his crude microscope, Micrographia brought
a fascination to the world of microscopy.
Hooke offered descriptions, drawings and copperplate engravings that folded out up to four
times the size of the book itself.
In addition to his famous picture of a flea, illustrated observations included a flys eye, plant,
louse as well as inorganic objects such as a needlepoint and razor blade.
Hooke was interested in microscopic and telescopic worlds, evident in his observations of
the surface of the moon and astronomy related speculations posited in Micrographia.
A philosopher and architect, Hooke dedicated most of his life to science, with specific
interest to optics and gravitational theory both of which led to controversy with Isaac
Newton within the Royal Society.
He was also an accomplished inventor, credited with the coil balance spring in pocketwatches, Hookes joint or the U-joint, found in most cars, a wheel barometer and
contributions to the compound light microscope.
Contributions to the field of physics include Hookes law, where he explained the physical
properties of linear elasticity as it related to a spring; he also made significant advances to
the design of astronomical instruments such as Gregorian (reflecting) telescopes.
Hooke died long before the development of cell theory.

Cell Theory Timeline

Cell theory can be attributed to the work of many scientists, physicians, naturalists and
clergyman that took place between the mid 17th and early 19th century. Important people
and their contributions include:

Anton Van Leeuwenhoek saw and described bacteria in 1674; considered the first
to observe single-celled organisms known as Prokaryotes

Matthias Schleiden German botanist; discovered all plants were comprised of

cells

Theodor Schwann observed cells in all samples of animal tissue, therefore

expanding Schleidens hypothesis to include animals; a German biologist and zoologist, he
later discovered the sheath that encompasses nerve axons; subsequent experiments
qualitatively disproved theories of spontaneous generation

Rudolf Virchow in 1855, published the biogenic law: omnis cellula e cellula,
which translates into the well-known dictum every cell stems from another cell; he also
posited all disease involved changes to the function or structure of normal cells

In 1839, Schleiden and Schwann worked together to detail the first two principles of cell
theory; approximately 20 years later, Rudolf Virchow completed cell theory when he
determined that cells only come from other pre-existing cells.
Although modern theory has expanded on the initial three points, the foundation established
from these early findings is still relevant today.
Other notable scientists whose work validated and contributed to cell theory include:

Francesco Redi an Italian doctor determined that spoiled meat attracted but did
not transform into flies. In 1668, this simple discovery was antecedent to the concept that
cells can only come from other like-cells.

John Needham a naturalist and clergyman from Scotland discovered the presence
of micro-organisms in soup left exposed to air; he opined a life force existed in all
matter organic and inorganic.

Lazzaro Spallanzani a biologist and abbot from Italy; preformed experiments on

soup in sealed containers from 1765-67 and proved the micro-organisms that spoiled the
soup were air-born further proof that cells can only reproduce like-cells.

Henri Dutrochet confirmed connection between animal and plant cells; in

addition, he proposed, everything is ultimately derived from the cell.

Louis Pasteur performed additional experiments on soup in the mid-1860s

employing filtered air and flasks with straight necks and long S-shaped necks; he
discovered air-borne microbes were able to infect the broth in regular flasks but bacteria
settled at the top of the curve in the S-shaped flasks, leaving the soup unaffected.
Pasteurs work, essentially proved Vischows addendum.

August Weissman in 1880 proposed amending biogenic law to include living

cells can trace their ancestry back to ancient times.

Cell Structures under the Microscope

The microscope was improved and modified for better observation of different cells and
microscopic organisms. As a result, cell theory was created and modified to be what we
know today.
The physiological and biological study of cells focuses on cellular structure and function.
Cells function individually, yet also come together to form organs and play a role in
respiration, elimination and digestion.

At the foundation is cell theory: all living organisms are made up of cells that can only come
from pre-existing like-cells therefore, to understand behavior, genetics or disease, one
must study cells.
The two primary classifications of cells are prokaryotic, which contain the domains of
Eubacteria and Archaea, and eukaryotic, which encompasses protists, plants and animals.
Prokaryotes, literally translated as before the nucleus, contain the domains of bacteria
and archaea; these organisms lack a nucleus and membrane-bound organelles, but do
contain circular DNA. Unique to prokaryotes are flagellum and pilus or fimbriae. Some
prokaryotes contain organelles through infolding such as cilia, centrioles and ribosomes.
The internal and surface structure of a bacterial cells include:

Nucleoid

Ribosomes

Storage Granules

Endospore

Capsule

Outer Membrane

Plasma Membrane

Cell Wall

Periplasmic Space
Prokaryotes replicate through binary fission.
Eukaryotes are more complex organisms and, with few exceptions, contain membranebound organelles. Common to plants and animals cells are cell membranes, cytoplasm and a
nucleus. Organelles found in animals include:

Mitochondria

Golgi Apparatus

Endoplasmic Reticulum (ER)

Ribosomes

Lysosome

Vacuoles
Many animal cells also contain hair-like cilia or flagella for movement. Unique to plant cells
are cell walls, plastids and a central vacuole.
Eukaryotic cells divide via meiosis, where the cell produces gametes, or mitosis, where the
cell clones itself.

With applications in almost every area of science, cell theory provides a foundation for
understanding the structure and function of cells, organs and diseases.
Cytopathology is benefiting due to this foundation and, as well, pathology is advancing
digitally leading to quicker and better diagnosis.
Hookes research was the antecedent of a theory that took numerous scientists and well
over a century to devise. Schleiden and Schwann proposed the first two elements and
Virchows biogenic law completed what is now the foundation of all cell-based studies.

History of the Microscope

- Who invented the First Microscope? The history of the microscope spans centuries.
Roman philosophers mentioned burning glasses in their writings but the first primitive
microscope was not made until the late 1300s. Two lenses were placed at opposite ends of
a tube.
This simple magnifying tube gave birth to the modern microscope.

First Microscope

Grinding glass to use for spectacles and magnifying glasses was commonplace during the
13th century. In the late 16th century several Dutch lens makers designed devices that
magnified objects, but in 1609 Galileo Galilei perfected the first device known as a
microscope.
Dutch spectacle makers Zaccharias Janssen and Hans Lipperhey are noted as the first men
to develop the concept of the compound microscope.
By placing different types and sizes of lenses in opposite ends of tubes, they discovered that
small objects were enlarged.

Lens Improvement
Later in the 16th century, Anton van Leeuwenhoek began polishing and grinding lenses
when he discovered that certain shaped lenses increased an images size.
The glass lenses that he created could enlarge an object many times. The quality of his
lenses allowed him, for the first in history, to see the many microscopic animals, bacteria
and intricate detail of common objects.
Leeuwenhoek is considered the founder of the study of microscopy and an played a vital
role in the development of cell theory.

Achromatic Lens
The microscope was in use for over 100 years before the next major improvement was
developed.
Using early microscopes was difficult. Light refracted when passing through the lenses and
altered what the image looked like.

When the achromatic lens was developed for use in eyeglasses by Chester Moore Hall in
1729, the quality of microscopes improved.
Using these special lenses, many people would continue to improve the visual acuity of the
microscope.

Mechanical Improvements
During the 18th and 19th centuries, many changes occurred in both the housing design and
the quality of microscopes.
Microscopes became more stable and smaller. Lens improvements solved many of the
optical problems that were common in earlier versions.
The history of the microscope widens and expands from this point with people from around
the world working on similar upgrades and lens technology at the same time.
August Kohler is credited with inventing a way to provide uniform microscope illumination
that allowed specimens to be photographed.
Ernst Leitz devised a way to allow for different magnifications using one microscope by
putting multiple lenses on a movable turret at the end of the lens tube.
Looking for a way to allow more light-spectrum colors to be visible, Ernst Abbe designed a
microscope that in a few years would provide Zeiss with the tools to develop the ultraviolet
microscope.

Modern Technology improving Microscopy

The invention of the microscope allowed scientists and scholars to study the microscopic
creatures in the world around them.
When learning about the history of the microscope it is important to understand that until
these microscopic creatures were discovered, the causes of illness and disease were
theorized but still a mystery.
The microscope allowed human beings to step out of the world controlled by things unseen
and into a world where the agents that caused disease were visible, named and, over time,
prevented.
Charles Spencer demonstrated that light affected how images were seen. It took over one
hundred years to develop a microscope that worked without light.
The first electron microscope was developed in the 1930s by Max Knoll and Ernst Ruska.
Electron microscopes can provide pictures of the smallest particles but they cannot be used
to study living things. Its magnification and resolution is unmatched by a light microscope.

However, to study live specimens you need a standard microscope.

Scanning probe microscopy allows specimens to be viewed at the atomic level which began
first with the scanning tunneling microscope invented in 1981 by Gerd Bennig and Heinrich
Rohrer.
Later Bennig and his colleagues, in 1986, went on to invent the atomic force microscope
bringing about a true era of nanoresearch.
The history of the microscope spans centuries, however Leeuwenhoeks first design has
remained unchanged since the 1600s.

History of Microscopes

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Timeline of the Microscope
14th century: spectacles first made in Italy

1590: Two Dutch spectacle-makers and father-and-son team, Hans and Zacharias Janssen, create
the first microscope.
1667: Robert Hooke's famous "Micrographia" is published, which outlines Hooke's various studies
using the microscope.
1675: Enter Anton van Leeuwenhoek, who used a microscope with one lens to observe insects and
other specimen. Leeuwenhoek was the first to observe bacteria. 18th century: As technology
improved, microscopy became more popular among scientists. Part of this was due to the discovery
that combining two types of glass reduced the chromatic effect.
1830: Joseph Jackson Lister discovers that using weak lenses together at various distances
provided clear magnification.
1878: A mathematical theory linking resolution to light wavelength is invented by Ernst Abbe.
1903: Richard Zsigmondy invents the ultramicroscope, which allows for observation of specimens
below the wavelength of light.
1932: Transparent biological materials are studied for the first time using Frits Xernike's invention
of the phase-contrast microscope.
1938: Just six years after the invention of the phase contrast microscope comes the electron
microscope, developed by Ernst Ruska, who realized that using electrons in microscopy enhanced
resolution.
1981: 3-D specimen images possible with the invention of the scanning tunneling microscope by
Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer.
Origin: The origin of the word microscope according to the Online Etymology Dictionary is as
follows: 1656, from Mod.L. microscopium, lit. "an instrument for viewing what is small," from Gk.
micro- (q.v.) + -skopion. "means of viewing," from skopein "look at." Microscopic "of minute size" is
attested from 1760s.

History of the Compound Microscope

Just as the Greeks had a fully functioning radiant heating system operating two thousand years
before those only now being introduced in the US, so the origins of the compound light microscope
appear to be traced, not to Holland, England or France - but to China which is perhaps appropriate
given the present predominance of China in supplying compound light microscopes!

The Water Microscope

According to an ancient Chinese text, the Chinese viewed magnified specimens through a lens at the
end of a tube, which tube was filled with varying levels of water according to the degree of
magnification they wished to achieve. Ingenious, effective and repeatable in the home, today. That
this occurred some 4,000 years ago in the Chow-Foo dynasty and more than 3,500 years before the
"father of modern microscopy" was born is quite remarkable.
That these Chinese ancients achieved magnification levels of 150 times today's standard, or 100
moou, is breath-taking. It is as if they developed a town car that achieved Mach II. If they did build
such a car, no reference to it has ever been found. Similarly, there is no further known reference to
such a compound microscope device until we come back to the Greeks again.

No less a person than Aristotle describes the workings of a

microscope in some detail. The Greeks certainly made good use of curved lenses, which are an
essential component of any stereo or compound microscope. Ancient Greek boys probably shared
every American boy's sense of triumph of using a curved lens, or magnifying glass, to start a fire. The
Greeks, however, also used it for surgical procedures, not on ants as little boys are wont to do, but
on people - to cauterize wounds and lesions caused by leprosy and so forth.
Ancient Egyptians and Romans also used various curved lenses although no reference to a
compound microscope has been found. The Greeks did, however, give us the word "microscope." It
comes from two Greek words, "uikpos," small and "okottew," view. However, while Ancient Chinese,
Greeks and Romans all applied their infinite wisdom to the issue, there is no known reference to
either the use of artificial light or to multiple lenses. In other words, we can give great credit to the
Ancients for their foresight and achievements, but we have to look elsewhere to uncover both the
first light and compound microscope.
Incredibly, the next historical references with anything at all to do with microscopes, or more
accurately, optics is 1,200 years after Rome was sacked and, even then, the references are only to
the use of lenses in the invention of spectacles. Put another way round, some of the smartest
people the planet has ever produced, played and worked with single lenses for several thousand
years without taking it further.

Spectacles

Then, within just a few short years in Tuscany, Italy,

two men claimed to have independently invented spectacles. The evidence? Their tombstones! One,
Salvano d'Aramento degli Amati died in 1284 in Florence and claimed to have kept the process
secret. The other, Allessandro della Spina died in 1317 and claimed to have revealed his process.
Pisa and Florence are but a short gallop away. Coincidence? You decide.
In any event, a local monk, Girodina da Rivalta gave a sermon in 1306 in which he enthusiastically
endorsed spectacles as a terrific invention and in passing, indicated that they had been in use for
about 20 years. Finally, in 1289, another local from the Popozo family bemoaned that "I am so
debilitated by age that without the glasses known as spectacles, I would no longer be able to read or
write."

Telescopes
At about the same time, it appears that lenses were being used in early telescopes. In the 13th
century, the Englishman, Roger Bacon discusses them at length. Both spectacles and microscopes
are relevant to microscopes because they trace the increasingly sophisticated use of lenses - the
essential optical component of any microscope.
Then, a mere 200-300 years later, we find a plethora of references and hard evidence of both
telescopes and microscopes. The Renaissance had arrived and with it, an abundant flowering in the
arts and sciences. Most importantly, with the invention of the printing oress, ideas and
developments could be spread easily and rapidly. As a result, Thomas Digges' work on the
telescope in England in the mid-16th century and Hans Lippershey's work which included applying
for a telescope patent were transmitted to others, including no less a genius than Galileo.

Galileo immediately began to work with lenses. In a short

timeframe, he developed an improved telescope with a focusing device and went on to conquer the
stars. That said, we should also pay tribute to Sir Isaac Newton who around the same time in the
UK, invented the reflecting telescope.

Compound Microscopes
But what of microscopes?Well, the same Hans Lippershey and his son, Zaccharias Hanssen was
experimenting with a variety of lenses. In the late 1590?s, they used several lenses in a tube and
were amazed to see that the object at the end of the tube was magnified significantly beyond the
capability of a magnifying glass. They had just invented the compound microscope. That is to say,
they had discovered that an image magnified by a single lens can be further magnified by a second
or more lenses.

Then, in the mid 17th century, an Englishman, Robert Hooke and a Dutchman, Anthony Van
Leeuwenhoek took the microscope to new levels. Hooke was a sickly genius who loved to
experiment. He did so across a huge range of scientific fields of study and with prolific success. He
invented the universal joint, the iris diaphragm (another key component of many modern light
microscopes), a respirator, an anchor escapement and balance spring for clocks.

He also worked out the correct theory of combustion; devised an equation describing elasticity that
is still used today ("Hooke's Law") and invented or improved meteorological instruments such as
the barometer, anemometer, and hygrometer; and so on. Most of all, however, he is known for
Micrographia, his studies with a microscope, published in 1665. Micrographia became an overnight
sensation not just for what he described but for the superb drawings that he made.

He described a new world alongside exquisite

drawings of the stinging hairs on a nettle, a flea and, most famously of all, the honeycomb structure
or "cells" of a cork. It was Hooke who coined the term "cells" when describing living tissue.
Interestingly, while Hooke did use a compound microscope, he found that it much strained and
weakened his sight. For his Micrographia, he preferred to use a simple, single lens microscope made
of gold and leather and illuminated by a candle. Perhaps the first light microscope?

Antonie van Leeuwenhoek - the Father of the Microscope

It was Leeuwenhoek, however, who lived at the same time as Hooke and drew on Hooke's work to
take microscope design to new levels of sophistication. As a draper, he used a simple microscope to
examine cloth. As a scientist, he began to experiment with new ways of grinding lenses in order to
improve the optical quality. In total, he ground some 550 lenses, some of which had a linear
magnifying power of 500 and a resolving power of one-millionth of an inch - an astounding
achievement.
Leeuwenhoek detailed these achievements in almost 200 letters to The Royal Society in London
where no less a person than Robert Hooke validated them. The result of all this work was a simple,
single lens, hand-held microscope. The specimen was mounted on the top of the pointer, above
which lay a convex lens attached to a metal holder. The specimen was then viewed through a hole
on the other side of the microscope and was focused using a screw.
Perhaps his most famous experiment came in 1674 when he viewed some lake water:
"I now saw very plainly that these were little eels, or worms, lying all huddled up together and wriggling
just as if you saw, with thenaked eye, a whole tubful of little eels and water, with the eels squirming
among one another; and the whole water seemed to be alive with these multifarious animalcules.

This was for me, among all the marvels that I have discovered in nature, the most marvelous of all; and I
must say, for my part, that no more pleasant sight has every yet come before my eyes that these many
thousand of living creatures seen all alive in a little drop of water, moving among one another, each
several creature having its own proper motion."
He had discovered bacteria. He had earned his title of the Father of the Microscope. Interestingly,
it took until 1839, nearly two hundred years later, before cells were finally acknowledged as the
basic units of life.

18th/19th Centuries
The next major step in the history of the microscope occurred another 100 years later with the
invention of the achromatic lens by Charles Hall, in the 1730s. He discovered that by using a second
lens of different shape and refracting properties, he could realign colors with minimal impact on the
magnification of the first lens.
Then in 1830, Joseph Lister solved the problem of spherical aberration (light bends at different
angles depending on where it hits the lens) by placing lenses at precise distances from each other.
Combined, these two discoveries contributed towards a marked improvement in the quality of
image. Previously, due to the poor quality of glass and imperfect lens, microscopists had been
viewing nothing but distorted images - somewhat like the first radios were extremely crackly.
It is worth remembering that up until now, each new stride has been in the quality or application of
the lenses. Then, in 1863, one of the several new manufacturers of microscopes, the Ernst Leitz
company, addressed a mechanical issue with the introduction of the first revolving turret with no
less than five objectives.

This improvement was quickly followed in 1866 when Carl

Zeiss recruited Ernst Abbe as his director of research at the Zeiss Optical Works. Abbe laid out the
framework of what would become the modern computational optics development approach. He
made clear the difference between magnification and resolution and criticized the practice of using
eyepieces with too high a magnification as "empty magnification." By 1869, his work produced a new
patented illumination device - the Abbe condenser.
Abbe Condenser: Abbe's work on a wave theory of microscopic imaging (the Abbe Sine Condition)
made possible the development of a new range of seventeen microscope objectives - three of these
were the first immersion objectives and all were designed based on mathematical modeling. As

Abbe noted, his creations were "based on a precise study of the materials used, the designs
concerned are specified by computation to the last detail - every curvature, every thickness, every
aperture of a lens - so that any trial and error approach is excluded."
From here on, microscopes were designed based on sound laws of physics rather than the trial and
error that had characterized the pioneers. At the same time, a number of companies set up
specialized manufacturing plants focused on manufacturing precision microscopes. Research and
development continued to bear fruit.
In 1880, the first microtomes began to be used that enabled significantly thinner samples to be
prepared in order to improve sample. In 1893, another Zeiss employee, August Kohler figured out
an unparalleled illumination system that is still known as Kohler illumination. Using double
diaphragms, the system provides triple benefits of a uniformly illuminated specimen, a bright image
and minimal glare. In other words, Kohler achieved an almost perfect image.
The mass market for microscopes had arrived at the same time as precision engineering and it is
little wonder that a plethora of stunning results were obtained: In 1879, Walter Flemming discovered
cell mitosis and chromosomes, an achievement recognized as one of the 100 most important
scientific achievements of all time.

20th Century
At the turn of the 19th/20th centuries Louis Pasteur invented pasteurization while Robert Koch
discovered his famous or infamous postulates: the anthrax bacillus, the tuberculosis bacillus and the
cholera vibrio.

UV and Phase: By 1900, the theoretic limit of resolution for visible

light microscopes (2000 angstroms) had been reached. In 1904, Zeiss overcame this limitation with
the introduction the first commercial UV microscope with resolution twice that of a visible light
microscope. In 1930 Fritz Zernike discovered he could view unstained cells using the phase angle of
rays. Spurned by Zeiss, his phase contrast innovation was not introduced until 1941 although he
went on to win a Nobel Prize for his work in 1953.

Electron Microscopes: In 1931 Max Knoll and Ernst Ruska invented the first electron microscope
that blasted past the optical limitations of the light. Physics dictates that light microscopes are
limited by the physics of light to 500x or 1000x magnification and a resolution of 0.2 micrometers.

Knoll and Ruska built a transmission electron microscope (TEM) one that transmits a beam of electrons (as opposed to light) through the specimen. The subsequent
interaction of the beam of electrons with the specimen is recorded and transformed into an image.
Then, in 1942, Ruska improved on the TEM by building built the first scanning electron microscope
(SEM) that transmits a beam of electrons across the specimen.
Ruska's principles still form the basis of modern electron microscopes - microscopes that can
achieve magnification levels of up to 2 million times! The second major development for
microscopes in the 20th century was the evolution of the mass market. Started in the 19th century
when Leitz claimed to have exported 50,000 microscopes to the U.S., this trend accelerated in the
20th century. As a result, a large number of manufacturers sprang up to offer more competitively
priced alternatives to established European companies such as Zeiss and Leitz.
China: China has become a major supplier of microscopes for everyday use and, with the evolution
of their optical manufacturing capability, now supplies optical components to some of the major
microscope brands. This market trend has had a beneficial effect on the price of microscopes,
enabling the spread of microscopes beyond the realm of the research scientist to everyday
commercial and individual use.
New light sources - halogen, fluorescent and LED have all improved or added a greater versatility of
the light microscope, while the advent of boom stands have led to extensive commercial inspection
applications that cannot be undertaken with a standard pedestal microscope base. The most recent
innovation, however, has been the arrival of the digital microscope.

Digital Microscopes: Digital microscopes allow for

live image transmission to a TV or computer screen and have helped revolutionize
microphotography. Digital microscopes simply integrate a digital microscope camera on the
trinocular port of a standard microscope. An alternative and more flexible solution is simply to place
a digital microscope camera on a trinocular microscope!

Dino-Lite: One of the more original innovations in

the 21st century has been Dino-Lite Digital microscopes. Dino-Lite are handheld digital microscopes,
not much larger than a fat pen. They offer low power zoom capability with magnification up to 500x.
They have had a marked impact on industrial inspection applications.

History of the microscope

Ancient History
From ancient times, man has wanted to see things far smaller than could be
perceived with the naked eye. Although the first use of a lens is a bit of a
mystery, it's now believed that use of lenses is more modern than previously
thought.
However, it has been known for over 2000 years that glass bends light. In
the 2nd Century BC, Claudius Ptolemy described a stick appearing to bend in
a pool of water, and accurately recorded the angles to within half a degree.
He then very accurately calculated the refraction constant of water.

During the 1st century AD (year 100), glass had been invented and the
Romans were looking through the glass and testing it. They experimented
with different shapes of clear glass and one of their samples was thick in the
middle and thin on the edges.
They discovered that if you held one of these "lenses" over an object, the
object would look larger. These early lenses were called magnifiers or
burning glasses. The word lens is actually derived from the Latin word lentil,
as they were named because they resembled the shape of a lentil bean.
At the same time, Seneca described actual magnification by a globe of water.
"Letters, however small and indistinct, are seen enlarged and more clearly
through a globe of glass filled with water." The lenses were not used much
until the end of the 13th century when spectacle makers were producing
lenses to be worn as glasses. Then, around 1600, it was discovered that
optical instruments could be made by combining lenses.

The First Microscopes

The early simple "microscopes" which were only magnifying glasses had one
power, usually about 6x - 10x. One thing that was very common and
interesting to look at, were fleas and other tiny insects, hence these early
magnifiers called "flea glasses".

Sometime, during the 1590's, two Dutch spectacle

makers, Zaccharias Janssen and his father Hans started experimenting with
these lenses. They put several lenses in a tube and made a very important
discovery. The object near the end of the tube appeared to be greatly
enlarged, much larger than any simple magnifying glass could achieve by
itself!
Their first microscopes were more of a novelty than a scientific tool since
maximum magnification was only around 9X and the images were somewhat
blurry. Although no Jansen microscopes survived, an instrument made for
Dutch royalty was described as being composed of "3 sliding tubes,
measuring 18 inches long when fully extended, and two inches in diameter".
The microscope was said to have a magnification of 3x when fully closed,
and 9x when fully extended.
It was Antony Van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723), a Dutch draper and scientist,
and one of the pioneers of microscopy who in the late 17th century became
the first man to make and use a real microscope.
He made his own simple microscopes, which had a single lens and were
hand-held. Van Leeuwenhoek achieved greater success than his
contemporaries by developing ways to make superior lenses, grinding and

polishing a small glass ball into a lens with a magnification of 270x, the finest
known at that time (other microscopes of the time were lucky to achieve 50x
magnification). He used this lens to make the world's first practical
microscope.

Leeuwenhoek's microscope used a single convex glass lens attached to a

metal holder and was focused using screws. Anthony Leeuwenhoek became
more involved in science and with his new improved microscope was able to
see things that no man had ever seen before. He saw bacteria, yeast, blood
cells and many tiny animals swimming about in a drop of water. People did
not realize that magnification might reveal structures that had never been
seen before - the idea that all life might be made up of tiny components
unseen by the unaided eye was simply not even considered.

Compound Microscopes

To increase the power of a single-lens microscope, the

focal length has to be reduced. However, a reduction in focal length
necessitates a reduction of the lens diameter, and after a point, the lens
becomes difficult to see through.
To solve this problem, the compound microscope system was invented in the
17th century. This type of microscope incorporates more than one lens so
that the image magnified by one lens can be further magnified by another.

Today, the term "microscope" is generally used to refer to this type of

compound microscope. In the compound microscope, the lens closer to the
object to be viewed is refers to as the "objective", while the lens closer to the
eye is called the "eyepiece".
The function of any microscope is to enhance resolution. The microscope is
used to create an enlarged view of an object such that we can observe
details not otherwise possible with the human eye. Because of the
enlargement, resolution is often confused with magnification, which refers to
the size of an image. In general, the greater the magnification, the greater
the resolution, but this is not always true. There are several practical
limitations of lens design, which can result in increased magnification without
increased resolution. The reason for a dichotomy between magnification and
resolution is the ability of the human eye to see two objects.
Englishman Robert Hooke is credited with the microscopic milestone of
discovering the basic unit of all life, the cell. In the mid 17th century, Hooke
saw a structural mesh while studying a sample of cork that reminded him of
the small monastic rooms called cells (Micrographia). Hooke is also credited
with being the first to use the basic three-lens configuration that is still used
in microscopes today.

Later Developments
All the early microscopists saw quite distorted images due to the low quality
of the glass and imperfect shape of their lenses. Little was done to improve
the microscope until the middle of the 19th century when great strides were
made and quality instruments like today's microscope emerged. Companies
in Germany like Zeiss and an American company founded by Charles
Spencer began producing fine optical instruments. We can also mention
Ernst Abbe, who carried out a theoretical study of optical principles, and Otto
Schott, who conducted research on optical glass.
In order for light microscopes to achieve better resolution, three basic
problems had to be overcome:

Chromatic aberration: the unequal bending of different colours of light that

occur in a lens. This problem was first solved by Chester Hall in the 1730's. He
discovered that if he used a second lens of different shape and light bending
properties he could realign the colours without losing all of the magnification of
the first lens.

Top - a photograph taken with a good quality lens.

Bottom - a photograph taken with a wide angle lens showing visible

chromatic aberration (especially at the dark edges on the right).
Spherical aberration: the unequal bending of light that hits different parts of
a lens. Joseph Jackson Lister solved this problem in 1830. He discovered that
by putting lenses at precise distances from each other, the aberration from
all but the first lens could be eliminated. Low power low curvature lenses
could be made with minimal aberration and by using a lens of this type for
the first in a series, the problem could be virtually eliminated.

A perfect lens (top) focuses all incoming rays to a point

on the optic axis. A real lens with spherical surfaces (bottom) suffers from
spherical aberration: it focuses rays more tightly if they enter it far from the
optic axis than if they enter closer to the axis. It therefore does not produce
a perfect focal point.

The third problem is that for a microscope, to be as

good as physically possible, it must collect a cone of light that is as wide as
possible. Ernst Abbe worked out the solution to this problem in the 1870's.
He determined the physical laws that govern the collection of light by an
objective and maximised this collection by using water and oil immersion
lenses. The maximum resolution that Abbe was able to achieve is about 10
times better than the resolution Leeuwenhoek had achieved about 100 years
earlier. This resolution of 0.2 microns or 200 nanometers is a physical limit
imposed by the wavelength of light.

Modern Day Microscopes

In recent times, the development of the microscope has slowed, since optical
principles are well understood and to an extent, the optical limits have been
reached. The majority of microscopes follow the same structural principles
that describe monocular, mono-binocular and stereo-binocular microscopes.

While the technical limits of design have been reached, Vision Engineering
has taken the approach of developing the practical day-to-day user
friendliness of the microscope.

Patented Technology
Vision Engineering's patented Dynascope technology removes the need for
conventional eyepieces by expanding the image exiting the eyepieces from
3mm, obtained using traditional microscopes, to 100mm. This has the major
advantage of freedom of head and body movement for the operator.
Practical implications include more efficient and easier use of quality
microscope instruments in every application.

At the heart of Vision Engineering's patented technology lies a rotating multilenticular [multi-lens] disc, composed of millions of lenticules [lenses], which
act as independent image forming surfaces with diameters of a few microns
each. The disks spin at high speed to merge the millions of individual optical
paths into an aberration-free, high-clarity image. The result is a system
which has unrivalled levels of operator comfort, reducing fatigue and
increasing quality and productivity.

The invention of the light microscope opened the way for biologists to investigate
living organisms at the cellular level, and ultimately at the molecular level. The first

drawings of magnified life were made by Francesco Stelluti, an Italian who published
drawings of a honeybee at a 10-times magnification in 1625.