There are many different types of microscopes including the optical microscope, electron microscope and the various types of scanning probe microscopes.
The compound microscope is an 'instrument for magnifying small objects, consisting of a lens of short focal length for forming an image that is further magnified by a second lens of longer focal length.' The invention of the compound microscope is accredited to Zacharias Janssen and Galileo, who announced the invention in 1610.
The optical microscope is 'one in which the specimen is viewed under visible light.' Even though microscope technologies have been available for 400 years, lighting techniques are far newer. August Kohler developed Kohler illumination, whereby the specimen is illuminated to a degree that is uniformly bright and free from glare. This allows the user to realize the microscope's full potential.
The digital microscope uses optics and a CCD camera, which is connected to an LCD or computer monitor to view the image. The first known microscope of this kind was created in Tokyo, Japan in 1986 by the lens company Hirox Co Ltd.
The electron microscope is one in which 'an electron beam, instead of light, forms an image for viewing on a fluorescent screen, or for photography.' The invention of this type of microscope can be accredited to the German physicist Ernst Ruska and German electrical engineer Max Knoll in 1931.
Other scientists associated with the invention of the microscope include:
The compound microscope is an 'instrument for magnifying small objects, consisting of a lens of short focal length for forming an image that is further magnified by a second lens of longer focal length.' The invention of the compound microscope is accredited to Zacharias Janssen and Galileo, who announced the invention in 1610.
The optical microscope is 'one in which the specimen is viewed under visible light.' Even though microscope technologies have been available for 400 years, lighting techniques are far newer. August Kohler developed Kohler illumination, whereby the specimen is illuminated to a degree that is uniformly bright and free from glare. This allows the user to realize the microscope's full potential.
The digital microscope uses optics and a CCD camera, which is connected to an LCD or computer monitor to view the image. The first known microscope of this kind was created in Tokyo, Japan in 1986 by the lens company Hirox Co Ltd.
The electron microscope is one in which 'an electron beam, instead of light, forms an image for viewing on a fluorescent screen, or for photography.' The invention of this type of microscope can be accredited to the German physicist Ernst Ruska and German electrical engineer Max Knoll in 1931.
Other scientists associated with the invention of the microscope include:
- Cornelius Drebbel (1619)
- Giovanni Faber (1625)
- Robert Hooke (1665)
- Anton van Leeuwenhoek (1674
- Henry Clifton Sorby (1863)
- Ernst Abbe (1860)
- Ernst Ruska (1931)
- Erwin Wilhelm Muller (1936)
- James Hillier (1938)
- Frits Zernike (1953)
- George Nomarski (1955)
- Gerd Binnig (1981)
- Alfred Cerezo (1988)
