Microscopes - Science Reading Article - Grade 5-7

Microscopes. This resource is suitable for students in grades 5-7.

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Microscopes

History of the Microscope

Microscopes let us see tiny things by making them look bigger. People have been using microscopes for hundreds of years.

The first microscopes were invented in the late 1500s. They were simple magnifying glasses. Magnifying glasses made things look a little bigger. They let people see small objects like insects up close for the first time.

In 1590, two eyeglass makers named Hans and Zacharias built the first compound microscope. Compound microscopes use more than one lens. More lenses mean you can see things that are much smaller. Hans and Zacharias' microscope let them study tiny things like bugs, fabric, and plant and animal cells. But early microscopes blurred the images.

Over many years, scientists improved how microscopes worked. In 1665, a scientist named Robert Hooke first used the word "cell." He saw tiny cell structures in cork using a simple microscope. Later, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek built a microscope with just one lens. This let him see microorganisms for the first time.

In the 1800s, engineers developed better lenses. These new achromatic lenses made the images in microscopes much clearer. They also let them magnify more. This let scientists see smaller things.

In the late 1800s, two German engineers named Carl Zeiss and Ernst Abbe made huge advances in microscopes. Their microscopes could see cells in much greater detail.