Glass
Glass
Recently the Material society has announced the top ten Material Moments in
History. Rumor has it that they are moving to create the on-demand video
cast to rival David Letterman Show. Who knows?
Number One is the introduction of the periodic table by Mendeleev. Not a
very gutsy move on their part, but quite possible the best call they could
make.
Of interest to microscopists is Number Four, the Invention of Glass in Iran
in 2200 BC. Current politics as it is, if Iran isn't careful they could
quite possible be turned into glass. Radioactive glass, but still glass.
Number Five is Optical Microscopy developed by Anton van Leeuwenhoek. It
took about 3868 year to go from glass to microscopy.
It's difficult for me to explain the wonder I feel about glass lens. It's
the shape and a ray of light that seems so significant to me. Simply
changing the curves or the type of glass and you'll alter the focus and the
dispersion of light. Moving the lens or adding a second will bring sample
image in or out of focus, sharpen or distort it.
I'm not interested in these off-the-island survivor-type shows, but I saw
the opening show of one that amazed me. One team found a lens in their
first aid kit and was able to make build a fire the first night. It took
the other team two cold uncomfortable days to catch on. Clearly they were
an evolutionary dead end. All it took was a curved piece of glass. No
electricity, no computer to constantly force stability and add correction
factors, no temperamental systems needing a multiplex of people just to
operate. Just a lens.
Microscopy: just you, a little glass and some spare light.
The microscopist of the so-called golden age of microscopy used an
illumination system called Critical Illumination. The mirror and condenser
would be set to focus the illumination source in the plane of the specimen.
The microscopist would sit, preferable by a northern window, and use the
blue northern sky as the illumination source. Every so often a fluffy
white cloud would drift past their rotifers and starch grains surprising
the microscopist.
I have often wondered how many microscopist suddenly realized they were
drawing in a slow moving cloud with their camera lucida in to the
background of a diatom strew? A recent trip to the Cleveland Natural
History Museum gave several MSNO members a chance to use a camera lucida.
The camera allows each eye to focus on different objects and the Mark 1
super computer in our head overlays the images. The microscopist /artist
then "traces" the image seen on a blank piece of paper. It's quite
remarkable.
Why draw? Well the ability to draw an object and incorporate the
significant points while omitting the defects, the damage, the non-typical
structure make for a much more powerful image. The drawing becomes an
archetype which will allow the viewer to recognize it in other examples
which are not quite the same. John Delly, master photomicrographer, always
told me that to draw something is to educated the eye. Drawing crystals,
pollen or any other structure will teach you to recognize all or part of it
in another slide preparation.
The cavemen in southern France understood it, to draw something means to
understand it better.
Recently the Material society has announced the top ten Material Moments in
History. Rumor has it that they are moving to create the on-demand video
cast to rival David Letterman Show. Who knows?
Number One is the introduction of the periodic table by Mendeleev. Not a
very gutsy move on their part, but quite possible the best call they could
make.
Of interest to microscopists is Number Four, the Invention of Glass in Iran
in 2200 BC. Current politics as it is, if Iran isn't careful they could
quite possible be turned into glass. Radioactive glass, but still glass.
Number Five is Optical Microscopy developed by Anton van Leeuwenhoek. It
took about 3868 year to go from glass to microscopy.
It's difficult for me to explain the wonder I feel about glass lens. It's
the shape and a ray of light that seems so significant to me. Simply
changing the curves or the type of glass and you'll alter the focus and the
dispersion of light. Moving the lens or adding a second will bring sample
image in or out of focus, sharpen or distort it.
I'm not interested in these off-the-island survivor-type shows, but I saw
the opening show of one that amazed me. One team found a lens in their
first aid kit and was able to make build a fire the first night. It took
the other team two cold uncomfortable days to catch on. Clearly they were
an evolutionary dead end. All it took was a curved piece of glass. No
electricity, no computer to constantly force stability and add correction
factors, no temperamental systems needing a multiplex of people just to
operate. Just a lens.
Microscopy: just you, a little glass and some spare light.
The microscopist of the so-called golden age of microscopy used an
illumination system called Critical Illumination. The mirror and condenser
would be set to focus the illumination source in the plane of the specimen.
The microscopist would sit, preferable by a northern window, and use the
blue northern sky as the illumination source. Every so often a fluffy
white cloud would drift past their rotifers and starch grains surprising
the microscopist.
I have often wondered how many microscopist suddenly realized they were
drawing in a slow moving cloud with their camera lucida in to the
background of a diatom strew? A recent trip to the Cleveland Natural
History Museum gave several MSNO members a chance to use a camera lucida.
The camera allows each eye to focus on different objects and the Mark 1
super computer in our head overlays the images. The microscopist /artist
then "traces" the image seen on a blank piece of paper. It's quite
remarkable.
Why draw? Well the ability to draw an object and incorporate the
significant points while omitting the defects, the damage, the non-typical
structure make for a much more powerful image. The drawing becomes an
archetype which will allow the viewer to recognize it in other examples
which are not quite the same. John Delly, master photomicrographer, always
told me that to draw something is to educated the eye. Drawing crystals,
pollen or any other structure will teach you to recognize all or part of it
in another slide preparation.
The cavemen in southern France understood it, to draw something means to
understand it better.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home