The Microscope: It's Humble Beginnings and Its Current Status

While we hardly think about the humble beginnings of the microscope, it had such an amazing impact on the future of medicine and science. One has to wonder whether Robert Hooke, the inventor of the microscope realized the vast implications of his contraption when he crafted it back in the seventeenth century. Did he realize the depths at which science and medicine would travel? Surely he had to have had a clue. Robert Hooke not only crafted the first microscope, he also coined the term "cellulae" after viewing, with his makeshift microscope, a slice of cork, revealing a honeycomb like internal structure. This honeycomb-like shape was the shape of the cell walls, and the term cellulae, meaning "little rooms," was used to describe it. We now use the term "cell" from Hooke's original title.

The microscopes of Antony van Leeuwenhoek also ventured an eye into the microscope and after viewing a mass variety of objects discovered the existence of bacteria and protozoans. Like Hooke, Van Leeuwenhoek crafted his own microscopes, yet he had several years on Hooke so they were superior.

The modest beginnings of the microscope were stunted until the eighteen century when the work of Robert Brown, Matthias Schleiden, and Theodore Schwann took root each proposing different observations of cells. We were left with the fact that plants and animals were made up of cells, and that the structure of plants and animals were different (Chiras, 2005).

Today there are two categories of microscopes. Both are constructed so that the use of a lens enlarges objects, making objects not visible to the human eye visible. However, one allows for a very detailed and revealing look at the object, while the other serves only to magnify the object.

This latter form of microscope is called the light microscope. The light microscope places either a mirror or light bulb below the object, while above the object are two lenses that magnify it for easier viewing. However, it does not reveal extreme details. Conversely, the electron microscope uses a "beam of electrons to create a visual image of the specimen" (Chiras, 2005). The electron microscope enlarges objects 100,000 times their original size, which is why such detail is able to be seen using it. A light microscope only enlarges objects 100 to 400 times, a reason for the lack of fine details present from the microscope lens.

Like other objects of science, the microscope had a crude beginning. Yet dedicated scientists improved upon the art of microscope making and were able to craft objects as powerful and revealing as the electron microscope.