The Microscope
When most people think of a microscope they might think of a scientists lab with the microscope being another tool in our scientific arsenal. Or maybe a detective surveying a crime scene. Most people have used a microscope at least once in their lives. But lets take a closer look back in the origin and development of the microscope.
It all started in 1590 was when the first ‘microscope’ was invented. Two Dutch eye glass makers by the name of Zaccharias Janssen and his son Hans Janssen attempted putting many lenses on top of each other in a tube. The result was a larger image, this paved the way for the microscopes and the telescopes that we know today. Then in 1655 an English Physicist named Robert Hooke looked at a small piece of a cork through the microscope and spotted some ‘pores’ and ‘cells’, highlighting the scientific use of the microscope.
Much further on in the 18th century Joseph Jackson Lister decreased the spherical aberration (a.k.a. the ‘chromatic effect’), which allowed less blurry image. Then Ernest Abbe wrote a mathematical formula called the ‘Abbe Sine Condition’. This allowed for there to be the highest resolution possible. Note from here on out there have still been continuous research in how to improve the microscope.
Hi Harry,
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, this is a great and very informative post. I just have a few questions:
How did Lister decrease the "spherical aberration?"
Who were some other scientists who advanced the invention of the microscope to the state it is in today?
Thanks for your post!
Richard Zsigmondy,Frits Zernike,Ernst Ruska,Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer, if you really are interested in these people find a condensed history/timeline of the microscope http://inventors.about.com/od/mstartinventions/a/microscopes.htm
DeleteHey Harry,
ReplyDeleteI loved the detail and examples you put into your post, but I've come up with a question.
How do you think microscopes affected the development of telescopes?
Maybe you should also break down microscope into it's Latin origin if you wanted to add a little more info.
Hey, praise, question and polish, like from English class!
Well, I appreciate you reading my comment.
Thanks
Hi Quinn,
DeleteThanks for the great reply! I would think that it influenced telescopes by using the same fundamentals used in the making of a microscope, to amplify the image, and using that basic idea into the telescope.
Hey Harry,
ReplyDeleteThanks for writing this great piece. I enjoyed how you did a timeline is writing of the microscope, it made it a lot easier to read! One question I had is: Was the resolution found from the Abbe Sine mathematical formula still the highest resolution possible, has it improved? I know you said research continued, but did it work?
Much Love
Alex
Yes, the research did continue on of course, it's been many many years!
DeleteHarry,
ReplyDeleteThis was a really well written post and I really enjoyed reading it. I think its great that you were able to sum up the history of the Telescope in four short paragraphs. The detail level was great, but maybe you could talk about the evolution a bit more. Like how advanced technology is being applied with telescopes.
Your buddy,
Anika
Microscope* :)
DeleteMicroscope*:)
Advanced technology with them is being widely used in the medical field from curing diseases to preventing them.
Hi Harry!
ReplyDeleteI liked your post! Once people saw the "first" microscope, did they all try to make their own? Did the family get rich?
~Spencer
I don't believe it was a rush to make their own. No, it was purely a scientific discover, that was not monetary.
DeleteHi harry
ReplyDeletegreat post
I really loved how you explained the history of the microscope.
My question is, what disease do you think was killed because of the microscope? can you list a few diseases?
nice post,
hank
Well, killing diseases isn't the only thing it does, but I would imagine that almost all diseases that have been killed the microscope was used to look at it in smaller form.
DeleteHello Harry,
ReplyDeleteThis is a great post! I really loved how you brought so much science into this post but managed to keep it interesting! Thank you for sharing!
Thanks!
~Sydney
Harry,
ReplyDeleteI loved this post! It was really cool to learn about the history of the microscope. I thought that it was interesting to learn who built the microscope for I had not know that information before. Some possible suggestions if you were to redo the post. I already knew all of the information that was read in the post excluding the makers of the microscope. You could add some more interesting facts about the microscope. Still, I thought that it was a very informative post!
-Nate
Hi Harry,
ReplyDeleteAmazing post! Great detail. I really liked how you made timeline. I also really like how you explained the different kinds of telescopes and how they are different from each other.
Good job,
Grace
Thanks for the feedback!
DeleteHarry
Hi Harry,
ReplyDeleteYour post was very interesting, and I loved how you put so much detail into it.
I have a question though, Was the guy who put multiple lenses in a tube trying to create a microscope, or was he just experimenting?
-Nicholas
They were just experimenting and they saw what happened, great question!
DeleteHarry
Hi Harry,
ReplyDeleteI thought that your post was very interesting and informative. Why did you pick the microscope? Do you have one? I like how you had the whole history and how it evolved. Good post.
Cordially,
-KAT
I picked it because it was on the green sheet, and thought it would be a very interesting topic. And yes I do own one myself and know I can say I know more about how it works!
DeleteHi Harry!
ReplyDeleteI liked how you talked about how most people view them and how serious scientists view them. I also liked how you talked about the history of them and why they were originally invented. I have one question what got you interested in this topic?
I saw this on the topic scree, and I thought it would be a very interesting topic, and I was right!
DeleteTo Harry,
ReplyDeleteThat's so cool, how they invented the microscope by putting lenses over each other! I would of never guessed that! I love how you describe the full history, as well as the uses! Thanks for sharing this!
Do you own a microscope at home?
-Liom