Types of Microscopes
Microscope Type↕ | Inventor↕ | Year Invented↕ | Max Resolution↕ | Principle↕ | Known For↕ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Compound Light Microscope | Zacharias Janssen | 1590 | ~200 nm | Visible light through glass lenses | First microscope, foundation of cell theory and microbiology |
Simple Microscope (Van Leeuwenhoek) | Antonie van Leeuwenhoek | 1670 | ~1 micrometer | Single high-power glass bead lens | First observation of bacteria, sperm cells, protozoa |
Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) | Ernst Ruska and Max Knoll | 1931 | ~0.05 nm | Electron beam transmitted through thin sample | Atomic-level imaging, won Ruska the Nobel Prize in 1986 |
Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) | Manfred von Ardenne | 1937 | ~1 nm | Scanning focused electron beam over surface | 3D surface imaging, used across biology and materials science |
Phase Contrast Microscope | Frits Zernike | 1934 | ~200 nm | Phase shifts of light through transparent samples | Imaging live unstained cells, Nobel Prize in Physics 1953 |
Fluorescence Microscope | Oskar Heimstadt | 1911 | ~200 nm | Fluorescent dyes excited by specific light | GFP tagging, visualizing specific proteins in living cells |
Confocal Microscope | Marvin Minsky | 1957 | ~200 nm | Pinhole rejects out-of-focus light | Sharp 3D optical sections, widely used in cell biology |
Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM) | Binnig and Rohrer | 1981 | ~0.01 nm | Quantum tunneling current between tip and surface | First images of individual atoms, Nobel Prize in Physics 1986 |
Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) | Binnig, Quate, Gerber | 1986 | ~0.1 nm | Cantilever tip feels atomic forces on surface | Images non-conducting samples, DNA mechanics, molecular biology |
STED Microscope | Stefan Hell | 1994 | ~20 nm | Stimulated emission depletion beyond diffraction limit | Super-resolution fluorescence, Hell won Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2014 |
PALM / STORM Microscope | Betzig, Zhuang, Hess | 2006 | ~10 nm | Localization of single blinking fluorophores | Super-resolution imaging of living cells, Nobel Prize 2014 |
Cryo-Electron Microscope | Dubochet, Frank, Henderson | 1980 | ~0.2 nm | Flash-frozen samples imaged with electron beam | Near-atomic structures of proteins, Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2017 |
Dark Field Microscope | Henry Siedentopf | 1903 | ~200 nm | Only scattered light reaches the objective | Imaging spirochetes, diagnosing syphilis before stains |
Polarizing Microscope | William Nicol | 1834 | ~200 nm | Polarized light reveals crystal birefringence | Mineral identification, geology and petrography |
X-Ray Microscope | Paul Kirkpatrick | 1948 | ~10 nm | Focused X-rays through zone plates | Imaging thick biological samples, nanoscale tomography |
Two-Photon Microscope | Denk, Strickler, Webb | 1990 | ~300 nm | Two infrared photons excite fluorophore simultaneously | Deep-tissue imaging in live brains, neuroscience workhorse |
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