microscope: Quick Facts

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Last updated

Oct. 30, 2026

News •

Metalens microscope switches focus with voltage, not moving optics • Oct. 26, 2026, 5:20 PM ET (Phys.org)

A revolutionary new microscope could reveal the hidden machinery of life • Oct. 22, 2026, 7:32 AM ET (Science Daily)

Facts

Also Known As	microscopy

Photos and Videos

compound microscope

Diagram of a transmission electron microscope showing labeled components, including an electron gun, anode, condenser lens, specimen, objective aperture lens, intermediate lens, projector lens, and fluorescent screen.

Person in cleanroom attire operates a high resolution scanning electron microscope at a computer workstation inside a sterile, high-tech laboratory.

Robert Hooke's drawings

drawing of a female gnat by Robert Hooke

microscope by Antonie van Leeuwenhoek

17th-century compound microscope

Diagram showing how a convex lens magnifies an object, with rays passing through the lens to create an enlarged virtual image of a light bulb, as seen by an eye positioned at the focus.

Diagram showing chromatic aberration, where white light passing through a lens splits into blue and red rays that focus at different points, resulting in color fringes in the image.

laboratory research

Discover how progress in nanotechnology aid scientists to understand and apply the concept of particle engineering, specifically in the field of pharmacology

Robert Hooke's Discovery: The Microscopic World of Cells

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Topics

metallographic microscope interference microscope fluorescent microscope light microscopy compound microscope stereoscopic microscope magnifier inverted microscope ultraviolet microscope simple microscope Binoculars eyeglasses periscope lens Mirror aberration diffraction grating filter refraction stereoscopy

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Key People

The discoverer of the principle of the aplanatic focus

Joseph Jackson Lister

British opticist

Abbe, Ernst

Ernst Abbe

German physicist

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John Henry Dallmeyer

British manufacturer

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Jean de Hautefeuille

French physicist

Oil painting by Jan Verkolje showing Antonie van Leeuwenhoek seated at a table with a globe, papers, inkstand, and a compass in hand, wearing a brown robe and white shirt.

Antonie van Leeuwenhoek

Dutch scientist

Eric Betzig

Eric Betzig

American physicist

Hell, Stefan

Stefan Hell

Romanian-born German chemist

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Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg

German biologist

Swammerdam, Jan

Jan Swammerdam

Dutch naturalist

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Albert Sauveur

American metallurgist