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Homework Help: Science: Biology: Microscope History
by Leo Galleguillos
Without the technology of microscopes, we might have never discovered cells at all. Putting that into mind, many start to wonder who invented the very first microscope, and how advanced they are becoming today. This page will introduce you to the very first microscope and today's microscopes.
Back in the 1600's there lived a man and his name was Anton can Leeuwenhoek. He ground glass as a living. One day he found that by placing glass lenses at certain distances from each other, he could enlarge objects in his field of vision. This is an example of the very first microscope, called the light microscope.
Eventually, the light microscope was used to magnify many different things of the world such as droplets of water. In the droplets of water Leeuwenhoek discovered that the water was filled with many tiny organisms.
Another famous scientist named Robert Hooke observed living things such as flowers, insects, cork, etc. In 1665 he finally published a book of drawings filled with his observations through the light microscope. Many of these drawings had many little rectangles on them, which Hooke named cells because the rectangles reminded him of tiny rooms in a monastery, which are also known as cells.
It was believed for a long time that only plants were made of cells. No animal cells had been discovered yet. Fortunately, in 1839, a German biologist named Theodor Schwann discovered animal tissues that had cells similar to those of plants! He continued his research on animals through microscopes and it was finally concluded that all animals are made up of cells as well.
Today, biologists all around the world have learned more about livings things through advanced microscopes. The most commonly used microscopes used today in classrooms are the compound light microscope and the electron microscope. The compound light microscope is a microscope that uses lenses and light to magnify images. The electron microscope, on the other hand, is a microscope that uses a beam of electrons to examine a sample.
Another new class microscope which is less commonly used today is the scanning probe microscope. It's called the scanning probe microscope because it used a tiny tip known as a probe to scan faces of a sample. It's one of the most advanced microscopes and can get awesome pictures of atoms and molecules.
All living things are made up of cells. If you've never seen a cell before, it's about time you did under your science room's microscope!
Homework Help: Science: Biology
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