Biology 2382B Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Plasmid, Dichroic Filter, Animalcule
Document Summary
Anton van leeuwenhoek was the first person to construct a microscope adequate enough to observe live cells, back when people didn"t even know cells existed. His microscope was simplistic, but shares many features of modern microscopes. He would set drop of cell culture on the pin of the microscope and examine live cells in sunlight by moving the stage closer or further away from view. As opposed to leeuwenhoek"s single lens microscope, a compound microscope is a light microscope using two or more lenses (increasing the magnification properties). The condenser helps to focus the light from the light source on to a specimen, which is usually mounted on a glass coverslip or microscope slide. As the light passes through that specimen, it is collected and focused via an objective lens (a magnifying lens). Another magnifying lens is located in the eyepiece or the ocular.