How optical microscopes have aided the development of science:
Ever since the microscope was invented in the 16th century, multiple fields of
science have made significant discoveries that can be in some way credited to
the microscope. The light microscope is one of the most useful scientific
instruments ever to be developed. It has led to a countless number of discoveries
that wouldn’t have been possible without the instrument. They are some of the
most useful pieces of equipment that has ever been developed for science and
have led to many breakthroughs in nearly every field of science.
There are many different kinds of microscopes but the ones that I am going to
focus on in this article are optical or light microscopes. They use multiple lenses
to magnify the image to a size where it can be clearly examined by the user of the
microscope. The objective lens, the ocular lens, the light source, the coarse
adjustment knob, the condenser, the tube and the fine adjustment knob are just a
few of the most important parts of any optical microscope. The light source is a
small light which projects light onto the specimen. The objective lens is the lens
closest to the specimen that is being examined. It focuses the light that is
projected onto the specimen by the light source so that it can be seen when it
passes through the ocular lens. The ocular lens or eyepiece is the lens that is
closest to you eye. The ocular lens takes magnified image that the objective lens
produces and further magnifies it. The tube is the cylinder that the lenses are
located in. The coarse adjustment knob quickly moves the entire tube up or
down in order to focus the image. The fine adjustment knob does exactly the
same thing but with even more precision. It can be used to get the focus just right
when you are trying to examine small parts of a specimen. The condenser
determines the concentration of the light that is projected onto the specimen.
When all of these parts work together the result is we can examine anything
from bacteria to minerals.
The main reason why microscopes are so important to mankind is that they
allow us to make measurements and to examine things that we would never
have discovered without them. If the microscope didn’t exist every field from
medicine to physics would be many years behind where it is now. The
microscope has allowed us to look into a world completely unknown to us before
its invention. The world would be a very different place without them. Very few
of the discoveries that are made today do not have something to do with
microscopes. Even the design of telescopes was based off of the design of
microscopes. There would be very few substantial developments in most areas
of science compared to the number that there are now. By using microscopes we
can look as tiny specimens such as bacteria or microscopic organisms. The limits
of what scientists can do have dramatically expanded and more developments
just keep improving this instrument.
Some of the most important discoveries in the history of science were found just
after the microscope was created. Anton van Leeuwenhoek is famous for his
multiple discoveries using his own microscope. Some of the most prominent
discoveries that he made include being the first person to see and describe
bacteria, microscopic life in a drop of water and the circulation of blood
corpuscles in capillaries. As I mentioned earlier, Galilello based his design of the
telescope off of the design of the microscope. This means that many significant
astronomical discoveries are also due to the invention of the microscope. These
are only a few of the many discoveries that can all be credited to the amazing
instrument, the microscope.
There are so many different things that exist due to the discoveries that the
microscope has made possible. Many of the modern conviences that we have
today would not exist if it wasn’t for the microscope. Since its invention it has
dramatically improved the growth of many different fields of science.
Bibliography:
Davidson, Michael W. "Optical Microscopy." Olympusmicro.com. National High
Magnetic Field Laboratory. Web. 15 Feb. 2012.
<http://www.olympusmicro.com/primer/microscopy.pdf>.
Freudenrich, Craig. "HowStuffWorks "How Light Microscopes
Work"" HowStuffWorks "Science" How Stufff Works. Web. 15 Feb. 2012.
<http://science.howstuffworks.com/light-microscope3.htm>.
Bellis, Marry. "History of The Microscope." About.com Inventors. Web. 26 Feb.
2012. <http://inventors.about.com/od/mstartinventions/a/microscope.htm>.
Smith, S.E., and O. Wallace. "What Is a Microscope Condenser?" WiseGeek.
Conjecture. Web. 26 Feb. 2012. <http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-microscopecondenser.htm>.