The microscope has allowed for some incredible advancements in the field of medicine, such as the discovery of germs and even helped form the field of microbiology. Actual magnifying lenses may date back to as far as ancient Roman times, but the microscope as a complete tool began to take shape towards the end of the 16th century and into the 17th century. Near the close of the 1500's, the Janssens, a Dutch father and son who made glasses a living, noticed that placing glass lenses on either end of a tube could make objects appear much larger to the human eye. In the 1600's, Anton van Leeuwenhoek created what are known as "light microscopes" which used natural light in conjunction with polished glass lenses to magnify objects many times their size. The image to the right is what one of these early microscopes looked like. Over time other scientists would improve the design of the light microscope and technology would even allow new types of microscopes to be created, such as the electron microscope. However, without the basic light microscope none of that other advancement would have been possible, and we would still believe that there is no such thing as germs! Here is a link to see what a basic microscope looks like today: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuDcge0Zuak
Credits:
Bellis, Mary. "History of the Microscope". About.com. 04 June 2009. http://inventors.about.com/od/mstartinventions/a/microscope.htm http://z.about.com/d/inventors/1/G/H/Q/compound_microscope.jpg (picture)
Bellis, Mary. "History of the Microscope". About.com. 04 June 2009. http://inventors.about.com/od/mstartinventions/a/microscope.htm http://z.about.com/d/inventors/1/G/H/Q/compound_microscope.jpg (picture)
I believe the invention of the microscope is one of the most important discoveries of the century. It opened up many new fields such as molecular and microbiology. Without it, we would still be in the dark in many scientific fields. We wouldn't know about cells and how they interact with each other or different substances without the discovery of the microscope. We wouldn't know about viruses, and how they transmit information. We wouldn't even have many of the cures for the diseases that are around today. The invention of the microscope was a huge stepping stone for biology.
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