Microscopy gallery

 18th century workshop  Miniature ivory microscope
The Microscopy section of the MusEYEum website looks at the world of microscopes from an optical and social perspective. It marks the contribution of the early microscopical pioneers and also that of Ernst Ruska, who, if not exactly bringing the optical side of the story to an end, took microscopy in a direction the museum cannot follow. 

(Right): An eighteenth century microscope maker's workshop and an unusual twentieth century (?) model of a microscope made of bone and wood, with a tin lens cap.

Did you know?
The word 'microscope' was first coined in 1656, possibly half a century after the invention of the first instrument to which we would now give the name. The adjective 'microscopic' (as in pertaining to the function of a microscope) first occurs in 1680, but the use of the word to mean 'very small' does not occur before 1760.

  1. Early microscopes

    Early microscopes

    The first simple insect viewers.

  2. Robert Hooke

    Robert Hooke

    The great mind behind the 'Micrographia'.

  3. Later microscopes

    Later microscopes

    Microscopes for collectors, scientists and schools.

  4. Electron microscopy

    Electron microscopy

    Moving away from the optical microscope.