GRADE 7- Microscopy

from the Latin microscopium means an "instrument for viewing what is small​"

​For centuries, people have been looking for ways to see objects in greater detail. How can something as a drop of water make this possible?

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​Aralinks: Water Drop Magnifier

​The surface of a water drop curves outward to make a dome. This outward, or convex, curvature bends light rays inward. The result is an enlarged image on the retina of your eye. This mechanisms is similar to LENSES.

​It’s not clear who invented the first microscope, but the Dutch spectacle maker Hans and Zacharias Janssen (b.1585) is credited with making one of the earliest compound microscopes (ones that used two lenses) around 1600. The earliest microscopes could magnify an object up to 20 or 30 times its normal size.

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​In the late 1600s the Dutch merchant Anton van Leeuwenhoek made improvements to the first microscope. This microscope had one lens and could magnify an image about 270 times to its original size.