Traditional vintage limb style compound microscope with wooden case, chrome & black enamel
The performance of light microscopy depends as much on how the sample is illuminated as on how it is observed. Early instruments were limited until this principle was fully appreciated and developed, and until electric lamps were available as light sources. The first piece of fiction to involve the microcosm was probably Fitz-James O'Brien's "The Diamond Lens," which tells the story of a scientist who invents a powerful microscope and discovers a beautiful woman living in a microscopic world inside a drop of water. In 1893 August Köhler developed a key principle of sample illumination, Köhler illumination, which is central to achieving the theoretical limits of light microscopy. This method of sample illumination produces even lighting and overcomes the limited contrast and resolution imposed by early techniques of sample illumination. Further developments in sample illumination came from the discovery of phase contrast by Frits Zernike in 1953, and differential interference contrast illumination by Georges Nomarski in 1955; both of which allow imaging of unstained, transparent samples
Size: 3472px × 5152px
Photo credit: © Scenics & Science / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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