Microscope was accidentally invented by a father-son duo
There are instruments that help us see and understand the world around us more clearly. Take for instance the magnifying glass. Put a butterfly under it and you can see nature’s most wonderful creation, large and clear. Then there are also the binoculars that come handy if you are an avid birdwatcher. And of course, who can forget telescopes? After all, if it wasn’t for it, the universe would have remained unexplored. Wait, are we forgetting anything? Oh yes, our good old microscope! This optical instrument is found in laboratories used by scientists worldwide to observe and analyse smallest of small objects, starting from cells inside organisms to molecules and atoms within chemicals. But ever wondered who you should thank for such a fascinating invention? Read on to know more.
The accidental invention of microscope
A father and son of Dutch origin named Hans and Zacharias Janssen respectively deserve all the credit. They are the first inventors of microscope. As it turns out, the duo should also be lauded as the brains behind eyeglasses in the 16th century. Okay, but how did eyeglass developers end up inventing microscope? Well, that’s a story indeed!
Turns out, the Janssens were always looking for ways to improve vision. One fine day, in the late 1590s, as they were experimenting in their home laboratory, the father-son duo put a lens on each side of a tube. When they looked through the tube, they realised that the object at the other end looked bigger than they really were. In other words, they were magnified. This is how the first compound microscope was born! Although this instrument wasn’t perfect, it was critical to the design and development of future microscopes. Interestingly, the Janssens’ microscope could magnify objects 3 to 9 times.
Microscope: The evolution story
Around the same time as that of the Janssens, another eyeglass maker named Hans Lippershey of German-Dutch origin also ended up making a similar instrument. In fact, he was the one to apply for the first microscope patent in 1608. These early breakthroughs even inspired Galileo, the father of modern telescope, to customise his own microscope. Turns out, Galileo submitted his creation to Academia dei Lincei in 1625 and called it ‘Little Eye.’ Okay, but that brings us to the question, who came up with the term ‘microscope?’ Well, the answer is, his friend and peer Giovanni Faber.
Now, the problem with these first prototypes of microscope was that they lacked the option of resolution adjustment. So, even though the objects looked magnified, the images were obscure. Addressing this towards the end of the 17th century, another Dutch, Anthony Leeuwenhoek, a cloth merchant, developed stronger lenses having up to 300 times magnification. He put a tiny glass lens between holes in two metal plates joined together by adjustable screws. But guess what? His intention was not a scientific breakthrough but rather to analyse the cloth he sold. That is why he put the sample in between the plates and looked through the lens. Do you know what he ended up discovering? Bacteria! Needless to say, this not only paved the way for future microscope innovators but also opened a brand-new field of microbiology and modern-day medicine. Maybe that’s why today Leeuwenhoek is known as the ‘Father of Microscopy.’ Strange how inventions pan out, isn’t it?
All these inventions put together acted as the stepping stones in the field of modern microscopy. Today, standing in 2022, there now exist microscopes that enable us to magnify objects 200,000 times their actual size. How cool is that!
In 2014, a team of German and American researchers developed a powerful microscope as well as a method called ‘super-resolution fluorescence microscopy’. This helped them bag the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.