The History of the Light Microscope

The more closely a

phenomenon is observed, the
more complex it is seen to be.
Heinrich Weisskopf
The microscope has
become one of the most
recognizable symbols of
science.

Starting with use of a simple lens in ancient

times, to the first compound microscope
around 1590, and up to the microscopes you
are using in 7th grade life science, the
microscope has allowed scientists to make
discoveries about the “invisible world.”
Some of the very first magnifiers used water. There
are records from 1000 BC of people using blown glass
globes filled with water to magnify things.
In ancient times, people noticed that tiny objects and
writing could be seen enlarged and seen more clearly
through a round glass container filled with water.
Magnifiers are made of curved, clear pieces of glass, or
plastic called lenses. Lenses make objects look bigger
by bending light rays. All light rays passing through the
lens bend toward a point called the focus. After passing
through the focus, the light rays form a clear, sharp
image (likeness) of the object.
A series of convex lenses bend
light rays. In the process, the
image is flipped upside down
(inverted) and reversed!
The use of rounded pieces of glass to enlarge
small objects didn’t become important until the
reinvention* of spectacles around 1280-1285 in
Florence, Italy. The inventor is unknown but the
use of corrective lenses spread to the rest of the
world in just a few years. Considering the large
number of people with visual problems, it’s not
difficult to understand why people were
enthusiastic about spectacles.
*Spectacles were used in China
many years earlier as fashion
accessories but not to improve
eyesight.
With the lenses of spectacles and their obvious
magnification properties being used by many people, it
was just a matter of time before someone put two lenses
together to make the first compound microscope.
At this time, Dutch spectacle makers were experimenting
with multiple lenses. Telescopes were invented in this way.
By reversing a telescope the microscope was discovered!

Credit for the first

microscope is usually
given to Zacharias
Jansen in Middleburg,
Holland around 1595.
 The Jansen microscope
was composed of 3 sliding
tubes, measuring 18 inches
long when fully extended
and 2 inches in diameter.

It contained 2 lenses and diaphragms between the tubes to

cut down on the glare from the crude lenses. It was said to
have a magnification of 3X when fully closed and 9X when
fully extended.
After the Jansen invention, word traveled rapidly
throughout the world. Within a few years, there were many
microscope makers in Europe, and learned men such as
Galileo were using them.
 The first technical advancement of the microscope
after Jansen was a change from a two-lens system to
a three-lens system.

In the above diagram, B is the eye-lens, D is the field

lens, and F is the objective lens. Robert Hooke may
have been the first to use this system. The three-lens
system is the standard for light microscopes today.
In the middle of the 17th century two important discoveries
were made with the use of the microscope.

Marcello Malpighi
was one of the first
great microscopists.
He used the
microscope to see
capillaries, the
microscopically
thin blood vessels
which connect
Marcello Malpighi
arteries and veins.
17th Century Italian
microscope
Robert Hooke, an English scientist, looked at a thin
slice of cork under a microscope. It became clear to
him why cork was very light and could float on water.
He could see that cork was mostly air, with pieces of
material making up a mesh-work of supporting
structure around the tiny air pockets.

Hooke
named these
pockets of
air “cells”
after the
small
monastery
rooms used
Hooke’s cells by monks. Robert Hooke
Robert Hooke was a mechanical genius.
His book, Micrographia, was an important
milestone in proving the importance of
microscopy. While he didn’t at the time
understand the what “cells” were, his name
for them remains.
Hooke’s microscope was a very large
instrument - nearly 2 feet tall! The very
large body tube was attached to the stand
by a screw, and so, by rotation, an object
could be brought into focus.
The object was placed on a pin on the
lower stage, and light illuminated the object
from above.
The illumination came from an oil flame
and a globe (rounded glass container) and a
lens to focus the light.
 Robert Hooke’s
Micrographia, printed
in 1665 was an
important milestone in
proving the importance
of microscopy.

A detailed drawing of a fly

by Robert Hooke
 Antony van Leeuwenhoek
At about the same time that
Robert Hooke was making
discoveries with a microscope in
England, a Dutch amateur
scientist named Antony van
Leeuwenhoek was making
incredible discoveries with a tiny
single-lens microscope of his
own design. He made the first
observations of single-celled
organisms such as protists and
bacteria. He called his
discoveries animalicules.

Leeuwenhoek’s simple
microscope
 Leeuwenhoek experimented with
different metals and made hundreds of
simple microscopes. His lenses were
much better that those in more
advanced scopes.

A specimen is placed on a
pin in front of the lens which
is held in place by two metal
plates.
By 1690, the two leading microscope makers were John
Yarwell and John Marshall. The body tubes could be rotated
and a small glass stage could hold a specimen. The light was
below the stage.

Soon other improvements were

made on the Marshall scope. The
body tube could be slid up and
down and the stage could be
raised and lowered.
The next style of microscope to become popular was the Cuff
scope. This microscope had a much smaller body tube than
earlier styles which allowed more stability.

Henry Baker published a

book entitled The
Microscope Made Easy
in 1742. The book
devoted a whole chapter
to John Cuff’s
microscopes. This
provided opportunities
for many people, not just
scientists, to use a
microscope.
The 19th Century was a great
time for the microscope.
Microscope makers were
finally working on the
quality of the optical image.
The optical problems of the
past were corrected through
the work of Lister and
Dolland. Large clear images
were being produced instead
of large, blurry ones. By the
end of the 19th Century,
microscopes were being
massed produced in high
volume for low cost.
Typical Classroom Microscope: External & Cut-away views
 From a water drop to glasses . . . . from
telescope to microscope . . .

magnification
allows us to
discover hidden
worlds!
The Microscope

Anton Leeuwenhoek was Dutch.

He sold pincushions, cloth, and such.
The waiting townsfolk fumed and fussed
As Anton’s dry goods gathered dust.

He worked instead of tending store,

At grinding special lenses for
A microscope. Some of the things
He looked at were: Leeuwenhoek’s
Mosquitoes’ wings Microscope
the hairs of sheep, the legs of lice,
the skin of people, dogs, and mice;
ox eyes, spider’s spinning gear,
fishes’ scales, a little smear
of his own blood,
and best of all,
the unknown, busy, very small
bugs that swim and bump and hop
inside a simple water drop.

Impossible! Most Dutchmen said,

This Anton’s crazy in the head,
We ought to ship him off to Spain.
He says he’s seen a housefly’s brain. Anton van Leeuwenhoek
He says the water that we drink
Is full of bugs. He’s mad, we think!

They called him dumkopf, which means dope.

That’s how we got the microscope.

by Maxine Cumin
http://www.microsco
peworld.com/MSWor
ld/104_Diagram.pdf