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Microscope Museum Collection of antique microscopes and other
scientific instruments |
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Robert
Hooke’s microscope replica
Robert Hooke (1635 – 1703) was an English
scientist who made contributions to many different fields, including optics
and microscopy. Hooke's book Micrographia,
published in 1665, was maybe his greatest achievement to the history of
biology and contained detailed descriptions and drawings of diverse specimens
observed with a microscope. Among other instruments, Hooke devised a compound
microscope and illumination system (Figure 1) and used it in his
demonstrations at the Royal Society's meetings. He was able to observe
insects and other organisms but his most famous microscopical observations
were maybe the ones involving cork (Figure 1). In fact, Hooke discovered (and
named) cells by observing the cell walls in the cork tissue. In 1678, Hooke
was asked by the Royal Society to confirm Leeuwenhoek's findings of the little
animals (bacteria and protozoa), which he successfully did, contributing
for the wide acceptance of Leeuwenhoek's discoveries. Hooke described that
Leeuwenhoek's simple microscopes were more powerful and the images were
clearer when compared to his compound microscope. However, he complained that
simple microscopes were difficult to use saying they were "offensive
to my eye" and that those devices "much strained and
weakened the sight". This is a replica of an antique Robert
Hooke’s microscope, including the respective oil lamp, made in 2021 by the
author. The instruments were adapted from descriptions and drawings engraved
in the 1665 Hooke’s
book Micrographia (Figure 1A). The replicas
are made out of wood, brass, leather and glass. The
eyepiece and objective glass lenses were adapted from a late 19th
century student microscope.
Figure 1. Hooke’s compound microscope and oil
lamp (left) and microscopical observations of cork (right) as engraved in his
book Micrographia published in 1665. LAST
EDITED: 02.06.2021 |
