The Virtual Museum of Antique & Vintage Microscopes and Microscope Accessories kept at Diatom Lab
Welcome to the Virtual Museum of Antique & Vintage Microscopes and Microscope Accessories kept at Diatom Lab! Although Diatom Lab uses in-house modern, top of the range microscopes and other instruments to guarantee Customers the best quality and accuracy, in the laboratory there is also a rich collection of vintage and antique microscopes for the following purposes: 1) to understand how (and at what quality level) test diatoms, diatoms in general and other microscopic objects were observed throughout history of microscopy; 2) to understand the technical evolution and the optical aberrations of the microscope objectives and accessories throughout history of microscopy. These instruments come from the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries and are surprisingly like new: in fact, over the years it has been necessary to find microscopes and accessories from unsold stocks (it was a very difficult undertaking) or at least in perfect condition, to ensure the accuracy of the tests.
The leap into the past through vintage and antique microscopy has several salient aspects: a) first of all it always generates a strong emotion, especially if it is possible to observe from old but like-new instruments (because we understand how the observations of the past were really like and we can put on the clothes of the ancestors. It's a kind of priceless time machine journey); b) we realize that many old scientific discoveries have been made despite using instruments with much inferior performances; c) we understand how much genius, care and passion the past scientists and opticians had in building masterpieces despite having less means than today; d) we can directly verify how the optics have made great strides over time, in this way we can appreciate the present microscopy even more. (The Diatom Lab collection of antique microscopes is very large: this page requires some time but is constantly updated with new descriprions of old equipment and interesting experiments. Consult it often)
Diatoms under Antique and Vintage Microscopes:
Section four.
Barone, S. 2023. Steindorff Microbe Hunter, an iconic microscope that is a sculpture, a work of art. New interesting facts. Its established presence (with an award) not only in design culture but also in museums. Overall optical performance evaluation by means of Diatom Lab microscope test slides. Micscape Magazine, 325 (ISSN 1365 - 070x)
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Section Three.
Barone, S. 2023. Diatoms: the best microscopic objects to check, set and compare optical microscopes and contrast techniques, Microscopy and Analysis, 65: 13-18 (ISSN 2049-4424).
Click on the image below to download the free article!
Section Two.
Barone, S., 2022. Diatom Lab Microscope Test Slide in commemoration of Edmund J. Spitta. Micscape Magazine, 321 (ISSN 1365 - 070x).
Download the publication by clicking on the PDF symbol:
Section One.
Barone, S., 2022. Anoptral phase contrast applied to diatoms: a study by means of test diatoms on the advantages originally described by its discoverer Alvar Wilska, over the standard (positive) phase contrast. Micscape Magazine, 311 (ISSN 1365 - 070x).
Download the publication by clicking on the PDF symbol:
Section five. Coming soon!