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Microbe Hunter Microscopy Magazine History of Stereo Microscopy Science Museum ISSN 2220-4962 (Print) ISSN 2220-4970 (Online) Volume 3, Number 4 April 2013 The Magazine for the Enthusiast Microscopist http://www.microbehunter.com De-gassing of mounting media MicrobeHunter Microscopy Magazine - April 2013 - 1 ABOUT Microbehunter Microscopy Magazine The magazine for the enthusiast microscopist MicrobeHunter Magazine is a non-commercial project. Volume 3, Number 4, April 2013 ISSN 2220-4962 (Print) ISSN 2220-4970 (Online) Download: Microbehunter Microscopy Magazine can be downloaded at: http://www.microbehunter.com Print version: The printed version can be ordered at: http://microbehunter.magcloud.com Publisher and editor: Oliver Kim, Ziegeleistr. 10-3, A-4490 St.Florian, Austria Email: [email protected] Web: http://www.microbehunter.com Tel.: +43 680 2115051 ANNOUNCEMENT Visit the Forum! It is now possible to discuss the individual articles of the magazine. 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Editorial: Article and image submissions are welcome and should be sent to: [email protected]. For submission guidelines, consult the website at: http://www.microbehunter.com/submission Disclaimer: Articles that are published in Microbehunter Microscopy Magazine and the blog do not necessarily reflect the position or opinion of the publisher. The publication of these articles does not constitute an endorsement of views they may express. The authors themselves are responsible for the contents. Advice provided in Microbehunter Microscopy Magazine is provided as a service and as a recreational resource and neither the authors nor the publisher can be held liable and responsible for any errors, omissions or inaccuracies, or for any consequences (health, hardware, etc.) arising from the use of information of this magazine and the blog (or anything else). Conduct all lab work and (microscopy) hardware modifications at your own risk and always follow the instructions of the manufacturers. Front Cover: Plant cross section (Exo Labs) Left image: R. Jordan Kreindler Middle image: Oliver Kim Right image: Neill Tucker CONTRIBUTE! Write for Microbehunter! Please contribute both articles and pictures. Share your experiences, problems and microscopic adventures. If you are a researcher using microscopes, tell the readers what your research is about. Please contribute, even if you consider yourself inexperienced. If you are a struggling beginner, tell us something about the problems that you encountered. If you are an active enthusiast microscopist then share your projects, experiences and observations. Are you a teacher or lecturer? Share your microscopic experiences from school or university. This magazine is made by an enthusiast microscopist for other enthusiasts. Let‘s work together to make this project a successful one. Please send all contributions to: [email protected] You must own the copyright of the contributions and you retain the copyright of all submitted articles and pictures. While we are not able to pay you for your efforts, we will, of course, give you full credit for your contributions. Guest Bloggers! Yes, guest blogging is also a possibility. Write microscopy-related blog posts, send them to me and I will publish them on the web site. Naturally, I’ll put a link to your blog. Condition: it must be original content and you must be the copyright holder of the text (obviously). When submitting articles, please indicate if you want to have them published on the blog or in the magazine (or both). Before submitting anything, please read the submissions page on the website: www.microbehunter.com/submissions. 2 - MicrobeHunter Microscopy Magazine - April 2013 CONTENTS 4 19 22 Stereomicroscope Part 3: Specialized Applications Greenough stereomicroscopes: Some uses and instruments R. Jordan Kreindler A Novice’s Experience De-gassing mounting media before use can reduce air bubble formation. Neill Tucker p. 4 Some Microscopes displayed in the Science Museum in London A highly recommended museum with many interesting exhibits!. Oliver Kim 26 Gallery Testate Amoebae Hans Rothauscher Exo Labs’ Focus Microscope Camera™ pens the Unseen World to Exploration We have designed a camera to plug into any microscope and feed the image into an iPad. George Cawman Answer to the puzzle (back cover): Blood of a frog (red blood cells with nucleus visible) 28 p. 22 MicrobeHunter Microscopy Magazine - April 2013 - 3 STEREO MICROSCOPY The history of the stereomicroscope Specialized Applications Greenough stereomicroscopes: Some uses and instruments R. Jordan Kreindler (USA) Ophthalmology One type of stereomicroscope used daily in clinical practice is the slit lamp instrument, Fig. 38 and Fig. 39, seen in most ophthalmologist's and optometrist's offices. These instruments contain stereo Greenough microscopes, (e.g., Haag Streit, Topcon), or CMOs (to be discussed in the next part), adjustable slit lamp illumination, usually a tonometer, a device for measuring intraocular pressure (IOP) in mm of mercury to test for glaucoma, a chin brace, and forehead rest on a single adjustable stand. As Manuel del Cerro explained to the author (del Cerro, 2012), the name slit lamp is perhaps inappropriate, as this assemblage is named for only one of its components, which it can be reasonably argued, is not as important as its microscope. This is likely the reason a slit lamp is sometimes referred to by a longer and more descriptive name, slitlamp biomicroscope. Slit lamps are usually used in conjunction with a Hruby lens, typically -55/56 diopter (-55/56D), to allow examination of the retina. Slit lamps are used to examine the eye's interior, iris, cornea, vitreous humor, and retina to allow for anatomical diagnosis. As they are built using high quality optical and mechanical components designed for continuous clinical use, slit lamps are expensive, but appear virtually indestructible and long functioning. A slit lamp changed from a purely observational device to a measuring instrument with the inclusion of a tonometer to evaluate intraocular pressure (IOP). It was further extended as a measuring tool when additional capabilities were added to measure the distance from the cornea to the lens, and the thickness of the cornea. Used functioning models, of relatively recent slit lamps, are usually on the market only a short time, as there is a constant demand from eye care specialists. Models from the major slit lamp manufacturers such as Zeiss (CMOs), the original manufacturer of the modern stereomicroscope, and Haag Streit (Greenough), generally retain 4 - MicrobeHunter Microscopy Magazine - April 2013 Figure 38. Topcon SL-2E Slit Lamp (Bryant, 2012) The history of the stereomicroscope STEREO MICROSCOPY Figure 39. Haag-Streit slit lamp good resale values as used equipment. For example, a used Haag-Streit S350 slit lamp, depending upon condition and completeness, often sells for between USD $3,000 to $8,500. On trade-in for an improved Haag-Streit slit lamp, the BM 900 pictured here can reach $5,000. Fig. 39 shows a Haag-Streit Greenough microscope from various angles. Fig. 40 shows an eye as seen through this instrument, and the slit lamp's illumination can be seen reflected by the eye (Ozment, 2012). Photoreconnaissance Another specialized application was film photoreconnaissance analysis. One example of this is the Bausch & Lomb Greenough-style stereo zoom 240 photoreconnaissance microscope, c. 1970. This was used for photo interpretation of film from, often still classified, flights of Corona satellites, SR-71 Blackbirds, and other U.S. photoreconnaissance resources. With the arrival of high-resolution digital imaging, this microscope was removed from use. However, during the early digital imaging age film still had higher resolution, so film photoreconnaissance analysis persisted. Only after the development of higher resolution digital imaging was film finally replaced. In spite of the availability of later optical instruments, while film continued in use this B&L microscope was still used, and often preferred, for the analysis of film images. MicrobeHunter Microscopy Magazine - April 2013 - 5 STEREO MICROSCOPY The history of the stereomicroscope Figure 40. Human eye as seen through BM 900 Haag-Streit Greenough Microscope The B&L 240 Aerial Photo Interpretation Stereo Zoom microscope, with some of its accessories, is shown in its storage case in Fig. 41, and assembled in Fig 42. The microscope has a maximum magnification of 120x and can resolve images up to 400 lines per mm. Although this microscope is c. 1970s, its resolution is greater than that of some modern high-quality camera lenses. The Stereozoom 240, shown here, has two rhomboid arms and stereo objective lenses that are at the ends of these arms. When used for photoreconnaissance analysis, the B&L 240 pod with attached rhomboid arms and objectives was installed over a light table, typically made by Richards or Bausch and Lomb. The light intensity provided by different table models varied significantly, from a luminance of approximately 2,200 to 90,000 foot-Lamberts (about 700 to 28,650 candles/square foot). The transmitted light, from most tables, followed the movement of the rhomboid arms either magnetically or mechanically, and so provided lighting where needed. Separate illumination for each stereomicroscope objective had been introduced by Riddell over 100 years earlier. Quality Control - Solid State Devices Most semiconductor devices are fabricated onto thin sheets made from silicon, although other compounds are also used. These semiconductor devices are made in relatively expensive facilities called "fabs". Before the 1970s about 3/4 of stereomicroscope applications were in the life sciences. The 1970s saw the rapid growth of the semiconductor industry. Coincident with the growth of fabs was the use of Greenough zoom stereomicroscopes for the examination of the thin sheets of semiconductor material made in these fabs. These sheets, called wafers, contain fabricated integrated circuits (ICs). The ICs are cut from the 6 - MicrobeHunter Microscopy Magazine - April 2013 wafers and installed in packages. Because of the need for stereomicroscopes to examine these wafers. The rapid growth of the semiconductor industry lead to a concurrent and rapid growth in the production of Greenough microscopes. The new semiconductor industry was probably the single greatest impetus in the growth of Greenough microscope production. Fig. 43 shows a 3 inch wafer, typical of c. mid-1970s, containing Motorola MC6800 chips. The MC6800 was an 8-bit microprocessor with a 16-bit bus, and was patterned after the then popular DEC (Digital Equipment Corporation) PDP-11 CPU. Clock frequency for this processor initially was 1 MHz, later raised to a 2 MHz clock. This 8-bit processor contains about 70,000 transistor equivalents. A larger wafer has a greater chance of damage during fabrication, and thus can produce a lower yield. Quality control using stereomicroscopes was, and is, an important resource for identifying damaged wafer ICs (see Fig. 20). It was also necessary to examine printed circuit (PC) boards after ICs and other components were connected, see Fig. 45. Items such as those in Figs. 43, 44 and 45 were often viewed through a Greenough microscope for quality control. Wafer diameters were initially measured in inches, up to about 5 inches. For larger wafers, dimensions are measured in millimeters (mms). Today, 300mm is considered the standard for state-of-the-art wafers, with the next standard expected to be 450mm. Fig. 46 shows a later example of a wafer containing 80386 ICs, and beside it two pin grid array packages. The 80386 was also known as the i386. It was a 32-bit processor, c. mid-1980s. This microprocessor had over 1/4 million transistor equivalents, considerably more than the MC6800, but rather "puny" compared to today's microprocessors. The history of the stereomicroscope STEREO MICROSCOPY Figure 41. Bausch and Lomb 240 aerial photo interpretation stereo zoom microscope, in its laboratory storage case, with some accessories Figure 42. Assembled Bausch and Lomb 240 aerial photo interpretation stereo zoom microscope MicrobeHunter Microscopy Magazine - April 2013 - 7 STEREO MICROSCOPY Most quality control stereomicroscopes used by the semiconductor industry were Greenough-style zoom instruments. Bausch and Lomb StereoZooms, in particular, first introduced in 1959, became popular with the growing technology companies in Silicon Valley (Kreindler, 2012). Fig. 47 shows a later model B&L StereoZoom. B & L's StereoZoom entry was soon followed by AO's Stereo Star zoom series, Fig. 48. StereoZooms were sold to the semiconductor industry in significant numbers and are still widely available, although their production stopped at the The history of the stereomicroscope beginning of the 21th century. They can be seen for sale almost any week on eBay. Fig. 20 shows a damaged integrated circuit as seen under a Greenough stereomicroscope, as it would have appeared through a B&L StereoZoom or AO Stereo Star microscope. Today, higher zoom ratios are common. The first, double digit, 10:1 zoom stereomicroscope was the Zeiss Citoval c. 1975 (Lau, 2012). Zoom ratios have continued to expand beyond this for many top-of-the-line instruments, e.g., the Nikon SMZ1500 with a 15:1 (0.75 11.25x) zoom. The Bausch and Lomb Optical Systems Division and the American Optical (AO) company after a series of corporate acquisitions and mergers came together in one company. A company that also owned Reichert and Leica. This led to the rebranding of many stereo instruments. See Part 4 for a further discussion of stereomicroscope rebranding. As noted earlier, stereomicroscopes had, perhaps, their largest sales boost in consonance with the growth of the Figure 43. A wafer with Motorola MC6800 ICs 8 - MicrobeHunter Microscopy Magazine - April 2013 The history of the stereomicroscope STEREO MICROSCOPY Figure 44. A mounted Motorola MC6800 microprocessor without top cover Figure 45. PC Board with soldered components as seen through a Greenough microscope MicrobeHunter Microscopy Magazine - April 2013 - 9 STEREO MICROSCOPY The history of the stereomicroscope Figure 46. An 80386 wafer and two pin grid array packages Figure 47. Bausch and Lomb StereoZoom 7, stand and microscope pod with coaxial lighting option 10 - MicrobeHunter Microscopy Magazine - April 2013 The history of the stereomicroscope STEREO MICROSCOPY semiconductor industry. Today, components and circuit boards are becoming even smaller, as newer fabrication and mounting techniques are developed. Thus, stereomicroscopes are now even more essential in electronics laboratories, development centers, and fab facilities. Newer assembly methods often use SMD (Surface Mount Devices). These are considerably smaller than previous discrete components and are normally impossible to see adequately without a microscope. Fig. 49 presents a portion of a circuit board with SMD components used in a remote temperature sensor, as seen through a Greenough stereomicroscope. Figs. 50 and 51 show respectively SMD capacitors as they are often sold in 8 mm wide strips of components (often 20 or more) and a close-up, through a Greenough microscope, of three of these capacitors. Each capacitor measures approximately 1 mm x 2mm. These SMD capacitors are thus considerably smaller than capacitors used in the previous generation of electronic circuits. Surgery Operating room microscopes are usually stereoscopic and are often stable, floor standing instruments. Stereomicroscopes are used for a variety of surgical procedures. The surgical applications are too numerous for a comprehensive list to be presented here, but they include the medical specialties of cardiology, cardiac electrophysiology, dentistry, ENT (Ear, Nose and Throat), neurology, oncology, ophthalmology, orthopedics, plastic and reconstructive surgery, and urology. Many operating room microscopes have straight or only slightly tilted binocular tubes. However, microscopes used for ophthalmologic and other specialized surgeries are often inclined at 45 degrees (although occasionally at other angles). Most high-quality operating room microscopes have electronic controls for focusing and positioning, which are usually foot or head-mounted. These microscopes are frequently equipped with dual or triple heads, and/or with a video output channel for simultaneous viewing of the surgical procedure by operating room personnel. However, the video is only two dimensional, while the images through the microscope are three-dimensional. As these microscope are usually equipped with their own independent light sources, they can provide the spot illumination needed to see inside small openings. Not all operating room microscopes are floor-standing. Zeiss makes surgical Figure 48.. AO Stereo Star Zoom microscope "pod" (i.e., a microscope by itself for mounting on a variety of stands) MicrobeHunter Microscopy Magazine - April 2013 - 11 STEREO MICROSCOPY Figure 49. This shows a portion of circuit board from a remote IR temperature sensor. The board contains SMD (Surface Mount Devices). The history of the stereomicroscope Figure 50. SMD (Surface Mount Devices) as they are often sold, mounted in plastic strips. The SMD devices shown here are capacitors. 12 - MicrobeHunter Microscopy Magazine - April 2013 Figure 51. Greenough microscope close-up of three SMD (Surface Mount Devices) capacitors The history of the stereomicroscope head-mounted loupes, in powers from about 4x to 8x. Leica now sells a headmounted surgical microscope, model HM500. These head-mounted stereomicroscopes allow surgeons greater mobility than possible with a floor standing unit. The HM500 comes with zoom and autofocus capabilities, similar in many ways to modern digital cameras, and with from 2 - 9x magnification. The HM500 uses rechargeable batteries for mobility. It provides foot pedal controls for zooming and manual focusing if needed. Most operating room microscopes are registered and/or certified. In the US registration is done by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In Europe Conformité Européenne (CE) certification, indicating compliance with EU regulations, is common. Unfortunately, some countries do not require registration or certification. In these countries surgical room microscopes are usually less expensive, but issues of optical and mechanical performance can arise. All surgical microscopes are relatively expensive, even head-mounted loupes. A Sampling of Zeiss Greenough Microscopes After Zeiss' introduction of the Greenough stereomicroscope at the end of the 19th century, other companies started manufacturing similar instruments. It would be very difficult, perhaps impossible, to list all Greenough microscopes manufactured, even if we restricted ourselves to only modern times and "top" makers. With only modest descriptions, that list alone would likely exceed the length of this STEREO MICROSCOPY paper. Also, many previous Greenough microscope makers are no longer in business. Thus, confirming the accuracy of model designations and release dates would be difficult, and likely impossible. Also ome of the companies contacted have responded that many of their earlier manufacturing records are no longer available. Therefore, rather than attempting to cover all the Greenoughs instruments manufactured, a likely impossible task, only a small sampling of general purpose instruments from a number of significant manufacturers, including the original Greenough developer, Zeiss, is presented here. This sampling serves to illustrate the evolution of Greenough microscopes. For competitive reasons, microscope makers often copied each other's "newest" concepts. Thus, the manufacturers Figure 52. This is a Zeiss 'Double tube X with revolving nosepiece', c. 1935. MicrobeHunter Microscopy Magazine - April 2013 - 13 STEREO MICROSCOPY The history of the stereomicroscope presented here were somewhat synchronized with the each other's production models and the general evolution of Greenough microscopes by all makers. Zeiss continued to produced Greenough microscopes after their first in 1897, and the company still manufactures and sells them today, e.g., the Stemi DV4, 2000/C/CS. Many of these Greenoughs are general purpose instruments, used for a variety of applications. The discussion that follows presents a few of these general-purpose Zeiss models, spanning the interim from Zeiss' first Greenough to the present. Some Zeiss Greenough Models Fig. 52 shows a Zeiss Stand X, similar to that of Fig. 26. However, here the Stand has a triple turret, to allow easier magnification changes. This model had one of the earliest turrets made for Greenough microscopes. The turret here is thin and requires care in changing magnifications to avoid bending the assembly. This potential problem was eliminated by Zeiss in later models. A contemporary Zeiss catalog notes, “If the observer can always make do with as few as three paired objectives, a still more rapid exchange may be had by arming the double tube X with the triple revolving nose piece ... In this case, all that is necessary is to turn the disk of the nosepiece in order to swing any pair of objectives into line with the axes of the double tube. If the revolving nosepiece is to be employed, room must be provided for it by a recess in the prism body. The revolving nosepiece cannot be used with a double tube not having the recess.” (Zeiss, 1937). Although the turret design is somewhat delicate, this model is fully functional and the arrangement provides exceptional images. The inserts in Fig. 52 show this turret from above and below, illustrating both its flexibility and fragility. The turret, in addition to providing magnification changes using the mounted lens sets, allowed for the removal and insertion of objective lens pairs on dovetail sliders, offering magnification options beyond those avail- able with the originally installed sets. These objective pairs were similar to the objective sets in the single magnification Stand X of Fig. 26, so many magnification choices were available. Below the stage, of Fig. 52 is a large circular rotating disk providing three backgrounds: a black or white background for incident illumination, and a cylindrical opening for transmitted illumination. To reflect transmitted light the microscope has both plane and convex substage mirrors. The short, open cylinder for transmitted light allows for the insertion of a lens or condenser in the light path. This arrangement again 14 - MicrobeHunter Microscopy Magazine - April 2013 Figure 53. Zeiss Greenough-style Stereomicroscope III, c. 1965, used for a variety of applications. Two extra eyepieces are shown on the bottom left demonstrates the heritage Stand X, and other relatively early Greenoughs, owe to the biological compound microscope. This microscope could be used for dissecting with the attached hand-rests, but with its multiple magnifications it was commonly used as a general purpose instrument. As noted earlier, Stand X was manufactured from 1926 to 1942. The history of the stereomicroscope STEREO MICROSCOPY Figure 54. Zeiss DRC Left: Zeiss Stemi DRC, with Phototube, and stereo objective changer, Microscope c. mid-1980s Top: [Diagram of DRC light paths from Zeiss catalog, Courtesy and with permission of, Carl Zeiss Microscopy, LLC (Zeiss, 1984)] Fig. 53 shows a Zeiss Greenough Stereomicroscope III c. 1965 with magnifications of 1 - 4x and a working distance of 74mm (about 3 inches), that can be used for a variety of applications. It has the capability of seeing objects with either incident or transmitted light. A "stripped down" version of this stand was available with only incident light capabilities. It replaced the Zeiss Model II, and was itself replaced itself replaced by Zeiss' Model IVb. The model IVb, c 1976, had over double the magnification range, 0.8 - 5x, of the Stereomicroscope III. [If you're using the pictures in this article for model identification, please note that the Zeiss Greenough Stereomicroscopes I, III, and IV look almost identical. However, the toroid (doughnut-shaped ring) directly below the prisms on the Stereomicroscope III has a large black knob at its front center. MicrobeHunter Microscopy Magazine - April 2013 - 15 STEREO MICROSCOPY Figure 55. Zeiss DV4 Greenough stereomicroscopes (various current versions). Courtesy and with permission of Carl Zeiss Microscopy, LLC This knob is not present on Stereomicroscope Models I and IV.] Fig. 54 shows a later Zeiss Greenough Stemi DRC stereomicroscope (C for camera) on Stand O, with stereo-lens changer D, and Phototube DRC for easy documentation, and dual 10x Br/25 wide-angle eyeglass compatible eyepieces. This Stemi has four magnification options 1.6x, 2x, 4x, and 8x. These magnification changes are obtained by a combination of dovetail slider, and a triple drum changer (stereo-lens changer D) for the three greater magnifications. This changer has a built-in double-iris diaphragm. Images can be sent to the camera port by using the slider on the underside of this port. Moving the slider, positions an internal mirror either in or out of the light path. If in the path it reflects light from one of the objectives to a second mirror that sends light upward to the camera port. The history of the stereomicroscope The combination of eyepieces and objectives provide magnification options of 16x, 20x, 40x, and 80x. Working distances, depending on lenses, of either 54mm (2.12"), 63mm (2.48"), or 88mm (3.46"). Although difficult to see in the picture, this microscope has a flat substage slider to allow an opaque white background or a transparent opening against which to view objects. This microscope also comes with a Zeiss W 10x/25 Br eyepiece for the camera port. [Author's note: This microscope belongs with the "D" Zeiss Series Greenough stereomikroskops, where Ds have a fixed magnification, DRs have changeable fixed magnifications, and DV4s have zoom capabilities]. Fritz Schulze (Schulze, 2011, 2012) was kind enough to provide the prices for some DR options, in Canadian dollars, in 1976. 47 50 02 47 50 32/33/34 46 40 01-9903 43 51 05 Stereotube DR $268.00 Paired objectives $76.00 ea Eyepiece 10x $58.00 ea. (wide angle, $89.00 ea.) Stand LO $105.00 Zeiss continued to use essentially similar stands and other components, 16 - MicrobeHunter Microscopy Magazine - April 2013 e.g., the same basic stand, and lighted stand with rheostat (in the Stemi SV6 series), as well as the same illuminator, photo tube, and occasionally the same style of binocular tubes for other Greenough Stemi microscopes. This style was also used by Zeiss for some of their CMO microscopes such as the SR, discussed later in this paper. These microscopes and their close relatives were sold c. 1960s -1980s. Zeiss has continued to use the DR and DV4 designations [(DR 1040, 10x and 40x), (DR 1663, 16x and 63x), DV4 (8x to 32x zoom), and DV4 Spot (fiberoptic cold light illumination)] through more recent times. These designations are still used on Zeiss Stemi Greenough microscopes, although newer microscopes have significant design and color changes. Fig. 55 shows some current versions of Zeiss' DV4. The history of the stereomicroscope STEREO MICROSCOPY Combined References and End Notes Davis, George E., F.R.M. S. (1882). Practical Microscopy. London: David Bogue tion. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press This list includes most reference and notes for the full paper. However, additional references may be added in later parts. Dinkins, Greg. (2009-1). London in 3D: A Look Back in Time: With Built-in Stereoscope Viewer - Your Glasses to the Past! Minneapolis, MN: Voyageur Press Hartley, W. G. (1993). The Light Microscope Its Use & Development. Oxford: Senecio, p 111 Allen, R. M. (1940). The Microscope. Boston: D. Van Nostrand Company, Inc., P87. Auerbach, Felix (1904). Das Zeisswerk und die Carl Zeiss Stiftung in Jena (Trans:The Zeiss plant and the Carl Zeiss Foundation in Jena). Verlag von Gustav Fischer Bryant, Dr. Mark L., (2012) The author's thanks to Dr. Bryant and his staff for permission to photograph their Topcon slit lamp. Bausch & Lomb Optical Co (1929). Microscopes & Accessories: Photomicrographic and Micro-Projection Apparatus Microtomes . Colorimeters Optical Measuring Instruments and Refractometers. New York: Bausch & Lomb, p 81. Blake, George Palmer (1995). The Great Exhibition: A Facsimile [Reprint] of the Illustrated Catalogue of London's 1851 Crystal Palace Exposition. RH Value Publishing Blocker (2012). Blocker History of Medicine http://ar.utmb.edu/ar/Library/BlockerHistory ofMedicineCollection/BlockerHistoryofMedi cineArtiacts/MicroscopeCollection/Microsco pesMakersandTheirInstruments/MicroscopeS wift/tabid/877/Default.aspx Bracegirdle, Brian (2005). A Catalog of the Microscopy Collections at the Science Museum, London. [Computer Disk] Bryant, Dr. Mark L. (2012). The author's thanks to Dr. Bryant and his staff for permission to photograph their Topcon slit lamp. Carpenter, William (with revisions by Rev. W. H. Dallinger) (1901). The Microscope and Its Revelations. Eighth Edition. Philadelphia: P. Blakiston's Son & Company, p 96. Cherubin, d'Orléans. Père (1677). La Dioptrique Oculaire ou La vision parfait ou le concours des deux axes de la vision en un seul point de l'objet, Paris: S. Mabre-Cramoisy Cooke, M.C. (1869) One Thousand Objects for the Microscope with five hundred figures. Frederick Warne and Co.: London del Cerro, Manual (2012). The author's thanks to Dr. del Cerro for his kindness in reviewing the section on ophthalmology, and his helpful suggestions. However, all content is the sole responsibility of the author. Doherty, Glenn (2012). The author's thanks to Mr. Doherty, Support Representative, Carl ZeissMicroscopy, LLC for his help in identifying start and end manufacturing dates for some Zeiss stereomicroscopes. Dinkins, Greg (2009-2). New York City in 3D: A Look Back in Time: With Built-in Stereoscope Viewer - Your Glasses to the Past! Minneapolis, MN: Voyageur Press Encyclopaedia Britannica (1910). A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, Literature and General Information, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Binocular Instrument. New York, p 950. Ferraglio, Paul L. (2008). The Riddell Stephenson Binocular Microscope. The Journal of the Microscope Historical Society. Volume 16. The author's thanks to Dr. Ferraglio, a leading authority on Prof. Riddell's microscope and its successors. Dr. Ferraglio was kind enough to provide the author with reprints of his papers, as well as helpful comments on an earlier version of this paper. However, all content here is the sole responsibility of the author. Ford, Brian (1973). The Optical Microscope Manual. Past and Present Uses and Techniques. New York: Crane, Russet & Company, Inc. Fox, Deborah (2003). The Great Exhibition (How Do We Know About?) Heinemann Library Goren, Yuval. The author's thanks to Dr. Goren for the many discussions we've had on historical microscopes, and his emphasis on the importance of setting microscopes in their historical context. Gubas, Lawrence J. (2008). A Survey of Zeiss Microscopes 1846-1945. Las Vegas: Graphics 2000. This book provides additional color photographs of a Model XV and its storage on page 253. It can be highly recommended for its detailed and exceptional discussions of Zeiss microscopes. Gubas, Lawrence J. (private correspondence, 2012). The author's thanks to Mr. Gubas for information on Zeiss instruments and employees, and pointers to Zeiss materials. Hagan, Kevin (private correspondence, 2011). Thanks to Mr. Hagan of ALA industries Limited, Valparaiso, Indiana for providing a Contamikit brochure and PDF of the Instruction Manual. Hogg, Jabez (1867). The Microscope: Its History, Construction, and Application. Sixth Edition. London: George Routledge Journal of the Society of Arts, Vol XXXIV, (November 1886). London: George Bell and Sons, for the Society of Arts, Fig. 16, p 1014. Kreindler, R.J. and Yuval Goren, (March 2011), Comparison of the Swift FM-31 Portable Field Microscope and an FM-31 Clone, Micscape, Figs. 11, 12, and 13. Kreindler, R.J. and Yuval Goren (May 2011). Baker's Traveller's Microscope, Micscape Kreindler, R.J. and Yuval Goren, (November 2011). The TWX-1 Folded-Optics Microscope, Micscape Kreindler, R. J. (2012). The author worked in Silicon Valley for a number of years and saw the extensive use, and occasional abuse, stereo microscopes in high-tech companies were subjected to. Lau, Berndt-Joachin (2012). The author 's thanks to Herr Lau of Carl Zeiss Microscopy GmbH for his information on Zeiss GDR microscopes, and Zeiss' situation in Germany after WWII. Maertin, Rainer (2012). www.photoarsenal.com. The author's thanks for his permission to use the photo of the Brewster type stereo viewer. Mappes, Timo (2005). The First Commercial Comparison Microscope, made after Wilhelm Thörner by W. & H. Seibert, Wetzlar. The Journal of the Microscope Historical Society. Volume 13, No. 2. Mappes, Timo (2005-2006). Museum optischer Instrumente, http://www.musoptin.com/seibert_15368.ht ml Moe, Harald (2004). The Story of the Microscope. Denmark: Rhodes International Science and Art Publishers with the Collaboration of The Royal Microscopical Society, p. 176. Hermann, Armin (1991) Nur Der Name War Geblieben: Die absenteuerliche Geschichte der Firma Carl Zeiss Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlag-Anstalt, 1991, p. 37 Hankins, Thomas L. and Robert J. Silverman (1995). Instruments and the Imagina- MicrobeHunter Microscopy Magazine - April 2013 - 17 STEREO MICROSCOPY Nikon Microscopy U (undated) Introduction to Stereomicroscopy states, "The first modern stereomicroscope was introduced in the United States by the American Optical Company in 1957. Named the Cycloptic®, this breakthrough design...". Although this was a landmark in American stereomicroscopes, the common objective concept was first used by Riddell in 1850s, and a common large objective was later implemented by Zeiss in their Citoplast, considerably before the Cycloptic® was introduced. NYMS (1957) The author's thanks to the New York Microscopical Society for permission to reprint the advertisement from their 1957 Newsletter (See Pollinger, 1957) NYMS (1957) The author's thanks to the NYMS for permission to reprint the advertisement from their 1957 Newsletter (See Pollinger, 1957) Orlowski, Kristen and Dr. Michael Zölffel (private correspondence, 2012). The author's thanks to both Kristen Orlowski, Product Marketing Manager, Light Microscopes, Carl Zeiss Microscopy, LLC and Dr. Michael Zölffel, Carl Zeiss MicroImaging Gmb, Jena, Germany for information and materials they provided regarding Zeiss history. Ozment, Randall R. (2012). The author's thanks to Dr. Ozment for permission to photograph his Haag-Streit slit lamp, and for his explanation of its use in clinical practice. Pellerin, Denis (2000). The Origins and Development of Stereoscopy. In Paris in 3D: From stereoscopy to virtual reality 18502000. In association with the Musee Carnavalet, Museum of the History of Paris. The history of the stereomicroscope stitut für Biologie I (Zoologie). Freiburg, Germany: Springer-Verlag, Schulze, Fritz (2011, 2012). The author's thanks to Mr. Schulze, former head of the Historical Microscopical Society of Canada for his extensive knowledge of Zeiss microscopes which he kindly shared, and our extended exchanges on stereo microscopes. Schwabe, Ms. Marte (2012). The author's thanks to Ms. Schabe, Assistant to Dr. Wimmer, Carl Zeiss Archiv for her assistance (see Wimmer below). Schwidefsky, Kurt (1950). Grundriss der Photogrammetrie, Verlag für Wissenschaft und Fachbuch: 1950 (Reference from Fritz Schulze). Shuter, Jane (2003). How do we know about ...? The Great Exhibition. London: Heinemann Serfling, Thomas (2012). The author 's thanks to Herr Serfling, Carl Zeiss Microscopy GmbH for permission to use a photograph of him with an Anianus stereo microscope. Stanley, Jay (2012), The author's thanks for permission to use photos from his web site Classic Optics. http://www.classicoptics.com/ Turner, G L'E (1989) The Great Age Of the Microscope: The Collection of the Royal Microscopical Society Through 150 Years. Bristol: Adam Hilger Wade, Nicolas (1998). A Natural History of Vision. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, p 301. Phillips, Jay (private correspondence, 2011, 2012). Provided a copy of Zeiss' catalog Mikroskope für Wissenschaft und Technologie (Prob. 1951). Waldsmith, John (1991). Stereo Views: An Illustrated History and Price Guide. Radnor, Pennsylvania: Wallace-Homestead Book Company: Pollinger, Mel (1957). The author's thanks to Mr. Pollinger, Editor NYMS Newsletter for permission to reprint the advertisement from The New York Microscopical Society (NYMS) Newsletter of 1957 (See NYMS, 1957) Waldsmith, John (2001). Stereo Views: An Illustrated History and Price Guide. 2nd Edition. : Iola WI: Krause Publications: Iola WI. Purtle, Helen R. (Second Edition), (1987 reprint of 1951 edition). The Billings Microscope Collection. Second Edition. Washington, D.C.: Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, p 228, Figure 458 (Catalog number: M- 030.00541, AFIP accession number: 518,969, MIS photograph: 73-3899) Riemer, Marvin F. (1962) Microscope and the World of Science. New York: SCOPE Instrument Corp. RMS (1898). Journal of the Royal Microscopical Society, Volume 18, pp 469-471 Sander, Klaus (1994). An American in Paris and the origins of the stereomicroscope. In- Walker, David (undated). This is a short no frills introduction to stereo microscopes. http://www.microscopyuk.org.uk/dww/novice/choice3.htm Walker, David (July 2012) Product review: A 144 LED ring light for the stereomicroscope (typical model YK-B144T), July 2012, Micscape Wheatstone, Charles (1838). Contributions to the Physiology of Vision.—Part the First. On some remarkable, and hitherto unobserved, Phenomena of Binocular Vision, June 21, 1838 Wing, Paul (1996). Stereoscopes: The First One Hundred Years. Nashua, New Hampshire: Transition Publishing. 18 - MicrobeHunter Microscopy Magazine - April 2013 Wise, F. C., Francis Edmund Jury Ockenden, P. K.Sartory (1950). The binocular microscope: its development, illumination and manipulation. (Quekett Microscopical Club Monograph) London: Williams & Norgate. Wimmer, Wolfgang. The author's thanks to Dr. Wimmer's office at the Carl Zeiss Archiv Jena, Germany for their help. Zeiss. (Microscopy, LLC, MicroImaging Gmb, Jena) ▪ Zeiss (1934) Zeiss 1934 catalog, English version ▪ Zeiss (1937) Zeiss catalog ▪ Zeiss (1951) Mikroskope für Wissenschaft und Technologie Catalog ▪ Zeiss (1984) Catalog 41-603-e ▪ Zeiss(1984-GDR) GSM Stereo Microscopes Publication # 30-735-1 ▪ Zeiss (2006) Innovation #17, The Magazine from Carl Zeiss ▪ Zeiss (Undated) Citoplast brochure, East Germany ▪ Zeiss (Undated GDR-2) GSM GSZ Stereomicroscopes ▪ Zeiss (Undated History) - Two Zeiss Factories in Germany, http://corporate.zeiss.com/history/en_de/ corporate-history/at-aglance.html#inpagetabs-4 ▪ Zeiss (Undated) Opton catalog,, West Germany ▪ Zeiss (Undated) Stemi DR, Stemi DV4, Stemi Stereomicroscopes brochure ▪ Zeiss (1996) 150 Years of Zeiss Microscopes. Carl Zeiss Jena GmbH Zölffel, Michael (2012). see Orlowski above. © 2011 to 2013. Text and photographs (except as noted) by the author. The author welcomes any suggestions for corrections or improvement. He can be reached at: R. Jordan Kreindler [email protected] ■ Using a pump to remove gasses EXPERIENCES De-gassing mounting media before use can reduce air bubble formation. Neill Tucker I have a background in science and engineering but mainly on the maths, physics and electronics side. While I still enjoy tinkering with electronics I had been looking for a hobby that was science orientated, with a good practical element and wasn’t going to break the bank. I was amazed to see what could be achieved with fairly modest equipment and some inventiveness. Suitably enthused, I decided that I wanted to buy a compound microscope, which was still quite daunting given the bewildering array of models available. During my work in the electronics industry I had used rather nice Olympus zoom stereo microscopes with video monitor attachments. The image quality from these was stunning and I did wonder whether my expectations were going to be unrealistically high. Ideally I wanted a compound microscope equivalent i.e. Trinocular with some sort of camera to record images. At this point I decided to give myself a crash course in microscope terminology and find out what makes the difference between a microscope costing 400-500 Euro (which was my budget) and one costing 4000-5000 Euro. Like most things, it seems you get what you pay for, however I suspect there’s a big difference between peering down a microscope once in a while for pleasure and spendFigure 1: The Instant Marinater for creating a vacuum. MicrobeHunter Microscopy Magazine - April 2013 - 19 EXPERIENCES ing all day looking down one for a living. Imperfections you can put up with for an hour or two as a hobbyist might be very tiring and irritating on a daily basis as a professional. Generally I found that the price increased as you progressed from monocular to binocular and on to trinocular types. Higher quality instruments had higher specification objectives with more optical corrections included; these required a more complex arrangement of lenses and cost considerably more. To make the most of the objectives and increase flexibility of use, the illumination systems also became more complex and therefore more costly. Finally there were specialist microscopes that used high quality components in different configurations to optimise them for different applications, these were usually the most expensive. Given the above I wanted to know if I could buy a Trinocular microscope with a basic camera attachment for un- Using a pump to remove gasses der 500 Euros? After an extensive trawl of the Internet the answer appeared to be yes. Whether it would be any good or not was another question? The supplier I chose was Brunel Microscopes in the UK, a specialist supplier of microscopes to industry and education but who have branched out into the hobby market with a range of budget microscopes under the name Apex. They use Amazon as the online shop front although they are happy to deal direct. The advantage of looking on Amazon is the customer review aspect and although the majority of reviews were by non-specialists in the field, the feedback was very positive. The microscope I purchased was an Apex Scholar (322 Euro) together with an Apex Minigrab camera (56 Euro ). I have to say I am very impressed, the microscope is solidly built, smooth to operate and the image quality is excellent, the money has obviously been spent on the bits that matter. There are a 20 - MicrobeHunter Microscopy Magazine - April 2013 Figure 2: De-gassing by heating. Comparing original (left) and degassed water (right) after treatment with Vacu-Vin Instant Marinater. few parts that are clearly lower cost plastic such as the condenser iris and filter carrier but you can’t really expect machined Brass and Aluminium everywhere on budget equipment. The camera is basically a 2MP webcam that coupled with the software-supplied gives quite acceptable images for the money. Again you can’t expect digital SLR quality images from something around a tenth of the price. I’ve had the microscope for about 2 months and the main thing I’ve noticed as a novice is that there is nothing like looking down the microscope itself. The images have a vibrancy and clarity that is not easy to capture in digital images. It’s a bit like going on holiday to somewhere with stunning scenery and views, Using a pump to remove gasses EXPERIENCES Figure 3: Heating of water might result in a clouding. This clouding can be removed with some vinegar. you take some snaps, but they just don’t seem to do it justice. My advice to anyone thinking of buying a microscope is get a good quality optical microscope rather than the USB types. Look for one of a standard design with a good range of accessories should you want to upgrade later. As you look through various vendor’s sites you soon see the common features within a given budget range. Finally, don’t get too hung up on magnification, I borrowed a cheap kids microscope that supposedly magnified at 100x, 300x and 600x. While it wasn’t really fair to compare the two, it did highlight to me that magnification doesn’t mean much on its own. I could see more detail at 40x with mine than at any magnification on the kids microscope. Overall there seems to be bucket loads of stuff to learn about and an almost limitless supply of things look at, what a fantastic hobby! The Pesky Bubbles As a novice microscopist and itinerant tinkerer it wasn’t long after purchas- ing my microscope that I tried my hand at some simple wet-mount and aqueous mountant slides. Almost as quickly I discovered the scourge of the would be slide maker, bubbles, bubbles everywhere. It seemed that no matter how carefully I dripped, placed and covered things, there were bubbles. In many cases the slide started out clear but after a while bubbles just appeared, within 10-20mins for the wet-mount slides and within a few hours for the aqueous mountant. I remember from my days in the electronics industry that certain resins and potting compounds could suffer from the same problem unless they were de-gassed. This usually involved storing them under vacuum or heating them prior to use. I looked at the price of laboratory vacuum pumps and decided that I would need to find another method to pull a vacuum. The solution was a meat marinater from a company called VacuVin, a company that started by making vacuum storage stoppers for wine. The marinater is basically a rigid plastic storage container with one of the company’s wine stoppers in the top, together with a small hand pump. The pump works like a cycle pump in reverse and seems to pull a good vacuum. Figure 1 shows the VacuVin device with a 50 cm ruler for scale. My first experiment just involved tap water. One sample was taken straight from the tap, the other was boiled for 5 mins and allowed to cool. The two samples were placed in the container which was pumped down until the pump wasn’t extracting any more air. The samples were left under vacuum for just 15 mins and returned to normal atmospheric pressure. The photo in figure 2 shows the two water samples after removal from the container. The sample on the left is the un-boiled water which clearly contained a large amount of dissolved gas, some of which has now come out of solution in the form of bubbles. The sample on the right appears to have been effectively de-gassed by the boiling process. A chemist friend of mine said that the slight clouding of the boiled water is due to dissolved salts precipitating out. Water containing dissolved Carbon Dioxide forms a mild Carbonic acid which will dissolve mineral salts. Driving off the CO2 reduces the acidity of the water and causes the salts to precipitate out. The precipitate is too fine to be visible under a microscope but can be cleared if necessary with a few drops of Acetic Acid (Vinegar). The photo in figure 3 shows boiled water illuminated from the side just after a few drops of vinegar were added, a quick stir cleared the water completely. De-gassing mounting media Further experiments involved leaving my 15 ml jar of aqueous mountant under vacuum over night, by morning a number of large bubbles had risen to the top of the mountant. Subsequent slides made with boiled water and de-gassed mountant formed significantly fewer bubbles over time. ■ MicrobeHunter Microscopy Magazine - April 2013 - 21 ANTIQUES Microscopes in Museums A highly recommended museum with many interesting exhibits! Oliver Kim T he Science Museum and Natural History Museum in London are two of the most interesting museums of that I have so far seen. They are located in Exhibition Road in the part of London called South Kensington. I visited both museums on April 14, 2013, in the context of a week-long school trip, together with 23 of my students and a supporting teacher. I have already heard that the museums are quite large and impressive and though that it would be a good educational experience of 14-15 year olds. It also turned out to be a very worthwhile visit for myself. Seeing the scale and large number of exhibits of both museums, I immediately decided, that I will return 1 some time in the future. Both museums are free of charge. While my class toured the museums, spending some time with interactive science experiments and computer models, I decided to dedicate the short time available to the history of science. After a quick walk through the museum, I discovered, rather by accident, a museum inside the science museum. A wing of the building was was dedicated to the history of medicine. In the following pages, I simply want to present some of the microscopes that I was able to find. The Wellcome Museum of the History of Medicine, is a collection which is located inside the Science Museum. The Museum is named according to Henry Wellcome (1853-1936), who was an American-born pharmacist and who collected historical medical objects. The Wellcome Trust is the largest charity in the UK, it funds biomedical research. I was particularly delighted when I found a brass microscope labeled Microscope used by Louis Pasteur (Fig. 1). Pasteur was the scientist who proved, using a relatively simple but well thought-through experiment, that disproved spontaneous generation and showed that living things can only come from pre-existing life. I was rater surprised by the simplicity of the microscope. In my view this is a perfect example that even comparatively simple devices are sometimes 2 Figure 1: “Microscope used by Louis Pasteur. Paris, by Nachet, brass and iron, 1860s. This instrument was used by Pasteur in his work on disproving the theory of spontaneous generation. Inventory A55114.” Figure 2: Exchangeable objectives (see Fig. 6 for overview picture) 22 - MicrobeHunter Microscopy Magazine - April 2013 Microscopes in Museums 3 ANTIQUES 4 5 Figure 3: “American, signed Tolles of the Boston Optical Works, brass, glass lenses, c. 1870s.” Figure 4: “Compound monocular microscope, English, c. 1890” Figure 5: Left: “Hartnack microscope Paris, by E. Hartnack & Cie, brass, c. 1880.” Right: “Beck microscope London, by R. & J. Beck, brass, c. 1878.” MicrobeHunter Microscopy Magazine - April 2013 - 23 ANTIQUES Microscopes in Museums 6 sufficient to make important scientific discoveries. I was also able to find three historical microscopes in the Natural History Museum (Figure 6), which we visited after the Science Museum. All of the exhibits were presented in a display box to protect the rare equipment form dust and from visitors. The camera’s flash could not be used, as this would have caused reflections. I therefore had to increase the ISO setting of the camera, which resulted in much grainier pictures. The italicized text in the caption boxes were cited from the information cards displayed next to the exhibits. “A bacteriological laboratory in 1955” Having worked in a bacteriological laboratory myself, I was also fascinated by the reconstruction of a historic bacteriological laboratory (Figure 8). The Wellcome Museum of the History of 7 Figure 6: These three microscopes can be found inside the Natural History Museum. “Left - Petrological light microscope R & J Beck Ltd, London, 1905” “Middle - Dr Anna B Hastings’ microscope. Carl Zeiss Jena, early 1900s” Editor’s note: Anna Birchall Hastings (1902-1977) was a zoologist and a member of the Natural History Museum’s staff. Medicine had several of these exhibits, including historic surgery rooms. Much of the lab equipment was quite familiar to me: 60 years ago they also had autoclaves for sterilizing equipment and nutrient media (see image on page 3). I could also see the petri dishes for growing bacterial colonies were made of glass and not of plastic. I also was able to find glass pipettes and what appears to be a range of stains and 24 - MicrobeHunter Microscopy Magazine - April 2013 “Right - Petrological light microscope. Cooke, Troughton & Simms Ltd, York, c1983” Figure 7: “Haemoglobinometer Jena (Germany), by C. Zeiss, metal and glass, c. 1910 This model comes complete with a special portable microscope” Microscopes in Museums ANTIQUES 8 Figure 8: Bacteriological laboratory from 1955. The device between the two researchers is the light source. chemical reagents. And yes, sixty years ago, the lab coats were as dirty as they are nowadays. There was one scientific instrument that I could find in the 1955 laboratory that I only rarely used during my own microbiological work: the microscope! In modern microbiological research, microscopes (regrettably) are often of much lower importance for identifying bacteria. Years ago, microscopes played a much more central role in bacterial identification. Nowadays, a much greater emphasis is placed on DNA analysis and other biochemical methods. While watching the exhibit, I also started to feel that modern scientific discoveries have sometimes become very abstract and detached from one’s senses. In many areas of science, personal observation (such as through a microscope) has given way to analytical measurements, and reliance on complex technology. I contemplated how science has changed over the years, and how it has remained the same. I forced myself to move on not to get lost in thoughts. Figure 9 shows a Gould microscope. The wooden box also serves as the base of the microscope. I have never seen such a construction before and decided to research this. I discovered that the Website of the Science Museum has a database with the displayed objects and a more detailed description (see links below).   ■ References: ● Natural History Museum: http://www.nhm.ac.uk/ ● Science Museum: http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/ ● Haemoglobinometer: http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/broughttolife/objects/display.aspx?id=92475 ● Gould-type microscope: http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/broughttolife/objects/display.aspx?id=4696 ● Louis Pasteur’s microscope: http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/broughttolife/objects/display.aspx?id=5840 The texts in the caption boxes were quoted from the info cards of the exhibits of the museums. 9 Figure 9: “A Microscope made in the Early 1800s: This chest pattern Gould microscope was made by Dolland about 1810, and is the kind of instrument widely used for scientific work until the 1830s.” MicrobeHunter Microscopy Magazine - April 2013 - 25 GALLERY Testate Amoebae Arcella gibbosa: 87µm, bottom view (stacked image) Arcella conica (probably), 81µm, top view, (imperfectly stacked, as the thing moved and turned slowly but constantly) All images by Hans Rothauscher www.hans-rothauscher.de 26 - MicrobeHunter Microscopy Magazine - April March 2013 2012 - Send images to [email protected] Testate Amoebae GALLERY Heleopera petricola: 100µm , broad (left) and narrow lateral view with slit-shaped aperture. (2 stacked images of same specimen) And an interesting Ciliate: Platycola coelochila. Length of shell 100µm, manual stack of 2 images. Platycola is a genus of loricated ciliates. Typically they consist of one, two or more zooids within a lorica of a chitin-like material (the Latin word Lorica literally meaning body armour). The zooid is usually trumpet-shaped and may extend far beyond the aperture. Platycola coelochila (German: Wärmflaschentier = hotwater-bottle-animal): Usually two individuals in one lorica. Sources: A. Warren, Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) Zoology 43(3): 95-108 (1982) http://biostor.org/reference/11912Dept Streble, das Leben im Wassertropfen, 2012, ISBN-13:978-3440126349, page 248. Send images to [email protected] MicrobeHunter - MicrobeHunter Microscopy Microscopy Magazine Magazine - March - April 2012 2013 - 27 PRESS RELEASE iPad Microscope Camera We want to ignite curiosity and inspire the next generation of scientists. Exo Labs E xo Labs’ new Focus Microscope Camera™ seamlessly links virtually any microscope to an iPad®. Insert the Focus into the eyepiece of a microscope, plug it into an iPad, automatically install our app, and explore. The free Focus App delivers a broad range of features that make the device a powerful tool for discovery and engagement – snap pictures, annotate, measure point-to-point with your fingertips, pinch and zoom, share via email, wirelessly connect to a TV or projector, and more. As more and more classrooms see the power of the iPad to enhance the learning experience, they are also looking for tools to extend that functionality. One specific area receiving a great deal of attention and effort is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM). Microscopes are important STEM teaching tools, embracing not only the life sciences, but chemistry, physics, geology, earth sciences, forensics, or just plain exploring. The Focus sits at the intersection of these trends, offering a great solution for teachers looking for new and exciting ways to engage and inspire students. It breathes new life into existing compound and stereo microscopes. With images so visible on the iPad, teachers no longer have to worry whether a student is looking at a cell nucleus or an air bubble. And interacting directly with the images on the iPad to perform measurement and annotation dramatically enhances student engagement, or as they have been telling us, “that’s really cool!” “We’ve received tremendous positive response to the Focus Microscope Camera,” says CEO Michael Baum. “Teachers love the way the Focus is quick and easy set up and use – you plug it in and it just works. Students are instantly engaged with the images. We have also received great response from higher-ed users, where there is a strong drive to get back to hands-on lab work.” Exo Labs listened to teachers, students, and other key stakeholders to ensure that features and functionality align with classroom needs. “We want to make a real impact. I would love to have a hand inspiring the next generation of scientists, from any microscope or macro stand, and readily share data, is critical to daily workflow.”, says co-founder and VP of Engineering Jeff Stewart. Exo Labs also sees strong potential for use of the Focus Microscope Camera in life science labs and in manufacturing facilities where the ability to quickly and easily capture photos or video from any microscope or macro stand and readily share data is critical to daily workflow. Figure 1: The new Focus Microscope Camera from Exo Labs links any microscope to an iPad, opening up images for exploration. Figure 2: The new Focus App delivers powerful features like point-to-point measurement and on-screen annotation. The Focus App can be downloaded for free at the App Store. (Pictured: Drosophila head with annotations and measurements) 1 28 - MicrobeHunter Microscopy Magazine - April 2013 2 iPad Microscope Camera PRESS RELEASE 3 The Focus debuted at the National Science Teachers Association (April 11-14, San Antonio, TX, www.NSTA.org) and is on sale now through the Exo Labs website, www.exolabs.com. Exo Labs is launching a Kickstarter effort on May 9th that will be used to get the Focus Camera into classrooms, and provide funds to enhance the capabilities of our app. Exo Labs will make 40 cameras available to schools and other education partners at no cost. In exchange we will receive important input that helps guide our development and keeps us working toward features that will be most valuable to teachers and students. Angel Conference. Exo Labs wants to ignite curiosity and help teachers inspire the next generation of scientists. For more information about the Focus Microscope Camera or Exo Labs please contact George Cawman at (512) 423-8432, or email George at: [email protected]. Website: www.exolabs.com Note: Apple and iPad are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.   ■ Figure 3: Leaf of a broad bean with stomata. Figure 4: Daphnia (water flea). Cover Picture: Stem cross section. All images taken by Exo Labs with the Focus Microscope Camera, on an Amscope M150c Microscope. About Exo Labs Accomplished engineers Michael Baum and Jeff Stewart started Exo Labs with the goal to improve science education. This new Seattle, WA company has already gained acclaim, winning 1st Place at the 2012 Northwest Entrepreneur Network First Look Forum, the Cascadia Pitch Summit, and the Seattle 4 MicrobeHunter Microscopy Magazine - April 2013 - 29 What’s this? Answer on page 3. 30 - MicrobeHunter Microscopy Magazine - April 2013