As an eight year old girl having very supportive parents, my mom and dad always encouraged whatever ambitions I had in mind and convinced me to become a scientist after I requested for a microscope. It was that Christmas that I received my first microscope. I could not take my hands off it nor my eyes for that matter as I was mesmerized of the invisible worlds that I now saw and with the dream of receiving a Nobel Peace Prize Award for a scientific discovery of new life forms, disease cures or anything that can benefit the human population.

It made me look things in another perspective when I used that small microscope of mine.We had a rare snowfall that winter, and it was the diversity and beauty of the snowflakes that captured my heart and made me hold my breath in awe and wonderment. Delicately molded tiny crafts of art, each is a wonderful present created with its own distinction.

It was the invention of glass lenses, or a combination of lenses with the use of a light microscope that enables to magnify these little worlds and make them visible to the human eye. According to the scriptures of Seneca, Pliny the Elder, and the Roman philosophers that magnifiers, burning glasses (it burned the item below it as it is exposed against the sunlight) and magnifying glasses were already used during 100 A.D. Formed like a lentil seed, these parts of magnifying glasses were termed as lenses.

The first microscope was made out of a tube with an amplifying lens that can blow up the object’s image ten times its original size and a plate on the other end. They used to call it flea glasses as well because of their curiosity on examining fleas and other insects with it.

The experimentation of several lenses in a tube led to the discovery of objects appearing enlarged in 1590 by Zaccharias Janssen and his son Hans. Through the years, the gadget was enhanced as some scientists contributed their learning and skill.In 1609, Galileo made his contribution by improving the principles of the lenses with a focusing device. A Dutch scientist by the name of Anton Van Leeuwenhoek, on the other hand, was named as the one who fathered microscopy. He was a novice at a dry goods store at first and utilized the magnifying glass to add up the threads in the textile. He was able to make lenses that curved up to 270 diameters of amplification after learning how to sharpen and refine them.He began to build microscopes and eventually made biological discoveries that made him famous. He is the first to record microscopic observations of bacteria, yeast plants, organisms in water and blood flow in capillaries. I’m sure it was an incredible experience. In the following years that came, there were insignificant improvements. However, by the 19th century, an American scientist by the name of Charles A. Spencer was able to manufacture the best lenses that can amplify the object’s appearance of up to 1250 diameters if used with natural light and 5000 diameters if used with blue light.

Microscopes vary in shapes and sizes. You can buy one for your child to shift his interest on finding out specimens unseen by the naked eye. Other fields that use this as well are in the manufacturing and engineering sectors, scientific studies and medical field. Regardless of its dimensions, certainly you will be mesmerized.

Do you really need microscopes to aid you in your Education? If yes, head to Safe Home and select from several microscopes and gadgets that would suit your requirements.