(Roughly) Daily

Microscopy has been around for centuries; it began to emerge as a field of scientific investigation with the emergence of compound microscopes in Europe around 1620. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek developed a very high magnification simple microscope in the 1670s and is often considered to be the first acknowledged microscopist and microbiologist. His fellow pioneer, Robert Hooke (author of what many to believe to have been van Leeuwenhoek’s inspiration, the ground-breaking Micrographia, published in in 1665), wrote “By the help of microscopes, there is nothing so small, as to escape our inquiry; hence there is a new visible world discovered to the understanding.”

Optical microscopes remain central tools in science, and have been joined by optical, electron, and scanning probe microscopes (along with the emerging field of X-ray microscopy). But, as Joao Inacio Silva illustrates, they are also fascinating objects, things of beauty…

Antique microscopes are amazing scientific instruments, from times when craftsmanship was as important as functionality and performance. The beauty of these instruments is manifested in countless ways, including the history of their makers and their technological developments, and their contribution to the development of microbiology and other fields of science, and all combine to inspire a feeling of admiration that a microscope can be so beautiful, elegant, and functional after so many years. An antique microscope is a work of art as well as science.

This [site] describes a collection of microscopes, which started as a hobby some years ago, and is always being updated with interesting new instruments….

For example:

Gustave Moreau (1805 – 1880) was a manufacturer of binoculars operating in Paris from 1830. The business of Moreau was merged with other opticians in 1849, forming the Deraisme house (167 Rue Saint-Maur, Paris), which specialised in binoculars and spotting telescopes, particularly for military use. Moreau is best known for the creation of the famous ‘Monkey Microscope’. [Pictured at the top] Microscope 199 is a drum-like microscope and is engraved with ‘Moreau’ in its inside base… The instrument should be dated to the mid-19th century.

Moritz (M.) Pillischer emigrated from Hungary to London, England, in 1845. He opened an independent shop that produced microscopes and other scientific and mathematical instruments in about 1849. Moritz’s nephew, Jacob (who adopted the name “James”), moved to London around 1860 to work for his uncle. Jacob later became Moritz’s son-in-law, after marrying one of his daughters. Pillischer did not make his own lenses until 1854, but instead provided French-made objectives with his instruments. Moritz Pillischer was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Microscopical Society in 1855 and joined the Quekett Microscopical Club in 1869. By 1881, Moritz had moved to Hove, Sussex, although he retained ownership of the Pillischer optical business. He handed over ownership of the business to Jacob in 1887 and passed away in his Sussex home in 1893. Jacob joined the Quekett Microscopical in 1895, and the Royal Microscopical Society in 1898. After Jacobs’ death in 1930, the company was inherited by Jacob’s three children, Edward, Leopold, and Bertha, and the business was liquidated in 1947.  Microscope 17 is a version of Pillischer’s Student microscope from c. 1860, with the serial number 1011 (Figure 1). The microscope is finished in lacquered brass and has an extendable eyepiece tube, original Pillisher lenses, rack and pinion main focus and fine focus. It has a square stage with manually adjustable slide rest. Below the stage is a mirror and a revolving wheel to control the level of light. Pillischer introduced this version of student microscope in the late 1854, and the basic form of this microscope was then used in other models over the next several decades, including the Saint Thomas Hospital (introduced in 1873) and the International (introduced in 1876) models (Figure 1). The microscope came with its original wooden box and several accessories, including a live box used for the observation of wet or dry animals. Early models of live boxes were constructed of ivory or brass and would often fit into the hole in the stage. Later, they were fitted onto a rectangular brass slide above the stage.

Many, many more delights at the “Microscope Museum“, a glorious collection of antique microscopes and other scientific instruments.

* Emily Dickinson

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As we look closely, we might spare a thought for Christain Goldbach; he died on this date in 1764. A mathematician, lawyer, and historian who studied infinite sums, the theory of curves, and the theory of equations, he is best remembered for his correspondence with Leibniz, Euler, and Bernoulli, especially his 1742 letter to Euler containing what is now known as “Goldbach’s conjecture.”

In that letter he outlined his famous proposition:

Every even natural number greater than 2 is equal to the sum of two prime numbers.

It has been checked by computer for vast numbers– to more than a trillion trillion– but remains unproved.

(Goldbach made another conjecture that every odd number is the sum of three primes; it has been checked by computer for vast numbers, but also remains unproved.)

Goldbach’s letter to Euler (source, and larger view)