Microscopes have, for a few centuries now, allowed people to peer into the world of the tiny. Previously unknown species have been discovered thanks to the work of an inspection microscope, and today, a handheld microscope may be used by professionals in all different fields. A digital microscope allows a person to peer still further into tiny details, and an electron microscope can even observe individual atoms. Today’s inspection microscope models are useful for work and recreation alike, and even smart phone apps contain microscopes of sorts. An Android microscope app, for example, allows a person to view tiny details on items, and similar apps may be found on other smart phone models as well. How far back does the concept of a inspection microscope go? And today, which professional fields call for a inspection microscope to be used?

A Brief History of Microscopes

Lenses were used in the Renaissance to invent the first crude telescopes, and something similar took place for the development of microscopes as we know them. It is widely believed that the first true microscope was invented in 1590 by an unknown inventor, and this forever changed how people viewed and understood the world around them. Many years ago, it is indeed known that Hans Lippershey filed the first patent for telescopes, but records show that Hans and Zacharias Janssen, a father-son team of spectacle makers, invented the first telescope instead. Either way, telescopes and microscopes advanced in power and clarity, famously pioneered by Galileo, and by others, too. The Italian scientist named Francesco Stelluti made the world’s first known recorded microscope observations in 1625, and he published some drawings of bees as seen through a microscope. Later, in 1683, microscopes were put to good use when the Dutch scientist Antonie van Leeuwenhoek created the first known drawings of bacteria.

Microscopes continued to enable many scientific discoveries beyond that, such as when Robert Hooked discovered cells in 1665 while observing cork with a microscope. He was reminded of jail or prison cells, hence the name of cells in the body. Germ theory was developed in large part due to microscopes, and this transformed medicine as it was known.

Modern Microscopes

It is safe to say that microscope technology has advanced even further since they 1600 and 1700s, and modern microscopes can magnify items millions of times. Some microscopes are traditional models that lay flat with a platform on them, and they may have two eye pieces for a user to look through. Other microscopes are smaller and built more like small telescopes, and they are portable enough to carry safely. these smaller microscopes may be useful for someone who is on the move while performing their job. Still other microscopes do not even need the hands to operate; instead, they are short devices that a person can fit onto their eyeglasses or hold in their eye socket, leaving both hands free for work. This is a classic image of a jeweler.

Jewelry is one of several industries today that makes good use of microscopes. Jewelers are responsible for observing even the smallest imperfections or details on the surface or the interior of a gem, and a microscope allows them to see everything in fine detail. Meanwhile, geologists also have ample need for microscopes, especially the portable kind that can be brought with them to a rock or geode formation out in the field. These microscopes allow them to view minute details so that they can study the rocks and any fossilized items in them. Tiny details in rocks may provide valuable data for the age of a rock or understanding the Earth’s conditions millions or even billions of years ago.

Those who work with delicate machines also need microscopes for their work. Watch makers follow a time-honored tradition of making delicate watches by hand, and this involves crafting and assembling miniature items and parts to create a working watch. Someone who is building, repairing, or inspecting a piece of computer hardware such as a motherboard or circuit board may also need microscopes to observe tiny imperfections or other issues. And of course, modern medicine uses microscopes like scientists in centuries past, to study cells, pathogens, and other microscopic organisms.