History of the microscope: the discovery of a new world
In his book of scientific essays "The Secret of the Universe", Isaac Asimov wrote the following lines: "To start, how big is a cell? There is no single answer to this question, because there are cells and cells, and some are larger than others. Most of them are microscopic, but some are so large that they are clearly, even inevitably, visible without the microscope.”
When the human being discovered the tiny worlds that inhabited this same dimension of time and space, a scientific and philosophical revolution began. All this was thanks to the creation of the microscope, one of the most fascinating inventions in universal history. This scientific tool made it possible for the human eye to observe what would be impossible on its own and allowed it to approach those hidden corners that exist in the smallest levels of life.
The Greeks and Romans had already been curious to see the tiny world in detail: with the help of glass spheres filled with water, they enlarged images with the purpose of observing deep wounds to heal them.
However, the history of the microscope attributes the Dutchman Zacharias Janssen the manufacture of the first two-lens microscope around 1590. He did so at the family lens factory where he worked together with his father and brother. Some sources suspect that perhaps he received the support of his father to carry out this feat.
Some historians attribute to Galileo Galilei the invention of this artifact, although in fact what the Italian scientist did was a theoretical prototype of this object in 1610. He called his invention occhiolino (ojito), which consisted of a concave lens and another convex. Galileo became so enthusiastic about this object that he later began to carry out tests for the manufacture of telescopes, another of the inventions that would revolutionize human life and with which he would initiate space scientific exploration.
There is still debate about whether the two previous characters were actually responsible for creating the first microscopes, as other sources attribute the achievement to the German Hans Lippershey. In fact, it is claimed that the creation of Zacharias Janssen is just a more developed idea than the one Lippershey did.
When the human being discovered the tiny worlds that inhabited this same dimension of time and space, a scientific and philosophical revolution began. All this was thanks to the creation of the microscope, one of the most fascinating inventions in universal history. This scientific tool made it possible for the human eye to observe what would be impossible on its own and allowed it to approach those hidden corners that exist in the smallest levels of life.
The Greeks and Romans had already been curious to see the tiny world in detail: with the help of glass spheres filled with water, they enlarged images with the purpose of observing deep wounds to heal them.
However, the history of the microscope attributes the Dutchman Zacharias Janssen the manufacture of the first two-lens microscope around 1590. He did so at the family lens factory where he worked together with his father and brother. Some sources suspect that perhaps he received the support of his father to carry out this feat.
Some historians attribute to Galileo Galilei the invention of this artifact, although in fact what the Italian scientist did was a theoretical prototype of this object in 1610. He called his invention occhiolino (ojito), which consisted of a concave lens and another convex. Galileo became so enthusiastic about this object that he later began to carry out tests for the manufacture of telescopes, another of the inventions that would revolutionize human life and with which he would initiate space scientific exploration.
There is still debate about whether the two previous characters were actually responsible for creating the first microscopes, as other sources attribute the achievement to the German Hans Lippershey. In fact, it is claimed that the creation of Zacharias Janssen is just a more developed idea than the one Lippershey did.
It was in 1625 when the term microscope was coined by the German Giovanni Faber, who served as a papal physician and was a colleague of Galileo at the Academy of the Lynxes.
In 1655 the microscopic revolution took a step forward: Robert Hooke made the first compound microscope, consisting of two lens systems: eye lenses and objective lenses. Later he published the book "Micrographia" in which he made a description of the tiny beings captured thanks to his invention, which were invisible to the human eye. He named these beings cells.
Thanks to the construction of his own simple microscopes with spherical super magnification lenses, the Dutchman Anton Van Leeuwenhoek discovered red blood cells in 1673. That motivated him to continue investigating until his main work tool led him to the discovery of bacteria and human sperm. The biological sciences would never be the same: a fascinating field literally opened up before the eyes of humanity.
Erwin Müller, a German physicist, and student Kanwar Bahadur made one of the most famous discoveries in the history of science: in 1955 they saw the first atom with an ion microscope.
The evolution of this important device continues to advance by leaps and bounds: the University of Victoria, Canada, installed in 2012 the most powerful electron microscope in the world. What is it like and what does it do? It is more than four meters high, has 50 lenses and can magnify the image of the most infinitesimal sample you want to see up to 20 million times.
Thanks to the existence and development of the microscope, important discoveries in favor of human health have been made, such as the oxalate salts in the urine, which are the cause of kidney stones; intestinal parasites, such as amoeba, could be discovered with this device and treated.
In 1655 the microscopic revolution took a step forward: Robert Hooke made the first compound microscope, consisting of two lens systems: eye lenses and objective lenses. Later he published the book "Micrographia" in which he made a description of the tiny beings captured thanks to his invention, which were invisible to the human eye. He named these beings cells.
Thanks to the construction of his own simple microscopes with spherical super magnification lenses, the Dutchman Anton Van Leeuwenhoek discovered red blood cells in 1673. That motivated him to continue investigating until his main work tool led him to the discovery of bacteria and human sperm. The biological sciences would never be the same: a fascinating field literally opened up before the eyes of humanity.
Erwin Müller, a German physicist, and student Kanwar Bahadur made one of the most famous discoveries in the history of science: in 1955 they saw the first atom with an ion microscope.
The evolution of this important device continues to advance by leaps and bounds: the University of Victoria, Canada, installed in 2012 the most powerful electron microscope in the world. What is it like and what does it do? It is more than four meters high, has 50 lenses and can magnify the image of the most infinitesimal sample you want to see up to 20 million times.
Thanks to the existence and development of the microscope, important discoveries in favor of human health have been made, such as the oxalate salts in the urine, which are the cause of kidney stones; intestinal parasites, such as amoeba, could be discovered with this device and treated.