The microscope is one of mankind's greatest inventions. Before its invention, human ideas about the world around them were limited to using the naked eye, or holding lenses to help see with the naked eye.
Microscopes have opened up a whole new world in human vision, seeing for the first time the inner workings of hundreds of "new" tiny animals and plants, from human bodies to plant fibers. Microscopy also helps scientists discover new species and helps doctors treat disease.
The first microscopes were made in the Netherlands in the late 16th century. The inventors were Yas Jensen, a Dutch optician or another Dutch scientist, Hans Lipsch, who made simple microscopes with two lenses but did not make any important observations with these instruments.
Two people later began using microscopes in science. The first was the Italian scientist Galileo Galilei. He first described an insect through a microscope after its compound eyes. The second was the Dutch linen merchant Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723), who himself learned to sharpen lenses. For the first time, he described many tiny plants and animals invisible to the naked eye.
In 1931, Ernst Ruska revolutionized biology by developing an electron microscope. This allows scientists to observe objects as small as millionths of a millimeter. In 1986 he was awarded the Nobel Prize.