ABSTRACT

The purpose of microscopes is to magnify extremely small objects that cannot be seen by the naked eye (Figure 11.1). They are incredibly valuable to medical diagnoses, including blood cell counting, bacteria detection, tissue analysis, and disease classification. This chapter discusses

• History of microscopes • Microorganism sizes • Mobile phone microscopes • Time-lapse videos • Laser holography • Virtual microscope • Image stitching • Cell-labeling algorithm

Looking back on the history of microscopes, many extraordinary discoveries were made by curious amateurs using simple devices. For example, Antoni van Leeuwenhoek was a cloth merchant and amateur scientist who lived in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in the Netherlands. Leeuwenhoek is known to be the first to observe and describe bacteria, microphages, red blood cells, sperm cells, and other micro organisms (Figure  11.2). Almost all of Leeuwenhoek’s instruments were simple magnifying glasses, not compound microscopes of the type used today. Compared to modern microscopes, these are extremely simple devices, using only one lens, mounted in a tiny hole in the brass plate that made up the body of the instrument. Leeuwenhoek’s craftsmanship enabled him to build microscopes that magnified over 200 times, with clearer and brighter images than the compound microscopes of his time.