The Microscope is a very relevant optical tool, since since its creation it was possible to appreciate elements and organisms that are certainly tiny, which before their appearance could not be visualized properly. That is why his arrival, without a doubt, marked a leap in this sense and one of the great beneficiaries was the scientific research that found in him a great ally and support when advancing in certain investigations that precisely implied knowledge of very small elements and organisms.
So the microscope is that optical instrument that is composed of lenses that are responsible for enlarging the images that are focused and that are too small to be seen by the human eye. It is specially designed to be able to appreciate very, very small elements that are obviously practically imperceptible to human vision.
Types of microscopes
The most common type of microscope that was created was the optical, which consists of one or more lenses, as we have already pointed out, which allow obtaining an enlarged image of the object and which works thanks to refraction. Some other types are: single, compound, fluorescence, ultraviolet, darkfield, petrographic, phase contrast, polarized, confocal, electron, transmission electron, scanning electron, field ion, scanning probe, microscope atomic, tunneling, virtual and antimatter force.
The electron microscope deserves a separate paragraph, a true advance in technology, which has replaced the rays of light that have to illuminate the object in question with a beam of electrons that will capture the image on a fluorescent screen.
Microscope components
But, in general terms, any microscope is composed of the following components: a source (such as a beam of photons or electrons), a sample (on which said source will act), a receiver (in charge of receiving the information provided through source and sample) and a processor of this information (almost always a computer).
A disputed creation
Regarding its origins and creation, it happens, as has happened with several great inventions in history, that many are attributed the same. According to the Italians, it was Galileo at the beginning of the seventeenth century and according to the Dutch Zacharias Janssen, but the Italians seem to win the tug of war when it is said that it was precisely a scientific society in which Galileo participated that used the term microscope for the first time. From there, what follows in the history of the microscope are a series of advances, both in its use and in its preparation.
Important impulse in the discovery of microorganisms fundamental for the health and life of living beings
In the middle of the seventeenth century, the microscope allowed an incredible leap in the recognition of microorganisms inherent to the human being such as red blood cells, sperm, and on the other hand, other relevant microscopic organisms were also identified such as protozoa and bacteria, responsible for many of the diseases that humans catch.
The Dutch scientist Anton van Leeuwenhoek was responsible for such an identification. By carving his magnifying glasses per se he was able to appreciate the red blood cells through them and when analyzing the semen he discovered the presence of sperm.
All this new information regarding these microorganisms allowed other sciences and disciplines to make significant progress in finding cures for conditions and also in improving health as a consequence of being able to advance in the knowledge of issues such as red blood cells and sperm Certainly important organisms in the correct functioning of people's health.
Meanwhile, the science in charge of studying and investigating all those very small elements is known as microscopy.
