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#microscope

1 post1 participant0 posts today
Public
Warren Currie 🦠🦐

Weekend #Plankton #Factoid 🦠🦐
The study of #phytoplankton is difficult because of their small size. For this we thank Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1722), the "father of microbiology". This Dutch draper was self-taught in creating high-quality #microscope lenses to examine thread. He then viewed tooth scrapings and water, coined the term "animalcules" for #protozoa, and first described Spirogyra (👍 genus name from JHF Link) as “spirally wound serpent-wise earthy particles”. A #science was born.

image/jpeg a sketch of a man in academic style robes, a crevat, and long curled wig, sitting by a globe and holding a scientific instrument. Antoni van Leeuwenhoek. Mezzotint by J. Verkolje, 1686 CC BY 4.0
image/jpeg an old brass instrument comprised of a large backing plate, with a screw mechanism on the front which comes to a sharp point. A glass lens in the plate is barely visible near the point. Van Leeuwenhoek microscope. Museum Boerhaave, Leiden CC-BY-SA 3.0
image/jpeg a view through a microscope of an algal filaments that contains two very green spirals in a double helix, similar to the structure of DNA. The charophyte green algae Spirogyra. Public Domain.
Public
Jen

As Fediverse knows odd things...

Where (UK) can I buy a microscope?

I don't want to spend a lot, nor do I need anything fancy. Just a step up in quality from the cheap plastic Early Learning Centre one I have.

Second hand would be perfect. EBay has many, but I've no way of knowing if they're any good.

In my head, I'm picturing the solid, heavy things I used to use at school. One that old would, I'm sure, be fine.

Any suggestions?

#science#microscope
Public
Warren Currie 🦠🦐

Weekend #Plankton #Factoid 🦠🦐
Most aquatic scientists, particularly those working on #algae are familiar with the name Hans Utermöhl. His name is synonymous with the "Utermöhl method" of settling #phytoplankton in a slide-off sedimentation chamber, with the base chamber assessed using an inverted light #microscope (which he helped develop). Every phytoplankton taxonomist uses this technique. He was foundational in the #German #limnology research community. #science
academic.oup.com/plankt/articl

image/jpeg a historical photo of clean cut man in a lab coat sitting in front of a microscope in a lab. Photo from Max Planck Institute of Evolutionary Biology.
image/jpeg a historical photo of a microscope with a distinct bottom mounted lens system that points upward. A series a glass tubes with wooden a box of glass slide plates sits to the side. Image from Utermöhl (1931).
Continued thread
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Simeon Schmauß

But first, this thing hadn't been used for years, so I had to clean it a bit. Maybe it was also just an excuse to understand how this thing works :)

It's an inverted design and has two optical paths, one for the binoculars and one for the camera.

Side view of the microscope with one of the covers open. The inside shows several mirrors and lenses redirecting the light to the different output ports.
Schematic drawing of the microscope. The light comes from the condenser at the top, moves down through the specimen, then the objective. From there it's split at a prism in two light paths. The upper one is redirected to the top where the binocular sits, the lower one is directed to a second output at the front of the device where a DSLR can be mounted.
#microscope
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