Jul 8, 2009
Old Microscopes
Wretched beasts moving about very nimbly
This is what Anton van Leeuwenhoek said about the creatures he saw in his 1670s microscope. The “Father of Microbiology” made over 400 different types of microscopes and discovered bacteria and spermatozoa, among other things…. among many, many other things. All these “beasts” live in enchanting world and can sometimes look very cute, and photographers keep discovering new angles and frontiers of their microcosm.
The “Fairy Fly” wasp (left) and some iridescent part of the aptly-named “Jewel Beetle”:
images by Spike Walker and Charles Krebs
Lobster Eggs:
image by Tora Bardal
Left: Live Daphnia… and the portrait of a fly (with a swanky hairdo):
images by Earl Nishiguchi and Solvin Zankl
Larva of Brachiolaria looks like a wannabe squid:
mage by Alvaro Migotto
Peeking inside the wild cucumber (Echinocystis lobata)
image by Victor Sykora
The eye of the honeybee (left). And the flatworm on the right seems to have a face. Pretty morose kind of face
images by R. Grimm and Greg Rowse
Soap bubbles on the left look somewhat like Mandelbrot set, and Actinoptychus heliopelta on the right looks remarkably like a mandala:
images by Karl Decart and Stephen Nagy
Photograph by Paul Marshall/National Research Council Canada /courtesy of Nikon Small World
Drug Landscape:
The antibiotic powder mitomycin – “viewed through polarizing filters, the drug gave off colors that reveal its complex crystal structure.”
Photograph by Dr. Margaret Oechsli /photo courtesy of Nikon Small World
A Chick Embryo:
Photograph by Thomas Pais de Azevedo of Lisbon, Portugal/photo courtesy of Nikon Small World
Images of Pollen
Rippel Electron Microscope Facility shows images of Ipomea purpurea (Heavenly blue morning glory) pollen including three-dimensional ones.
images credit: Rippel E.M. Facility
Frog Embryos:
image credit: Michael Klymkowsky
Microscopic frost accumulating on a blade of grass
image credit: Eric Erbe
bonus:
Life under microscope can be daunting… so some microbes start singing the blues:
image credit: Sebastian Niedlich
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