Editing Optical microscope (section)

===Invention===
The earliest microscopes were single [[lens (optics)|lens]] [[magnifying glass]]es with limited magnification, which date at least as far back as the widespread use of lenses in [[eyeglasses]] in the 13th century.<ref>Atti Della Fondazione Giorgio Ronchi E Contributi Dell'Istituto Nazionale Di Ottica, Volume 30, La Fondazione-1975, page 554</ref>

Compound microscopes first appeared in Europe around 1620<ref>{{cite book|author1=Albert Van Helden|author2=Sven Dupré|author3=Rob van Gent|title=The Origins of the Telescope|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XguxYlYd-9EC&pg=PA24|year=2010|publisher=Amsterdam University Press|isbn=978-90-6984-615-6|page=24}}</ref><ref name="J. William Rosenthal 1996, page 391"/> including one demonstrated by [[Cornelis Drebbel]] in London (around 1621) and one exhibited in Rome in 1624.<ref name="Raymond J. Seeger 2016, page 24">Raymond J. Seeger, Men of Physics: Galileo Galilei, His Life and His Works, Elsevier - 2016, page 24</ref><ref name="J. William Rosenthal 1996, page 391">J. William Rosenthal, Spectacles and Other Vision Aids: A History and Guide to Collecting, Norman Publishing, 1996, page 391–2</ref>

The actual inventor of the compound microscope is unknown although many claims have been made over the years. These include a claim 35<ref>{{cite book|author1=Albert Van Helden|author2=Sven Dupré|author3=Rob van Gent|title=The Origins of the Telescope|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XguxYlYd-9EC&pg=PA36|year=2010|publisher=Amsterdam University Press|isbn=978-90-6984-615-6|pages=32–36, 43}}</ref> years after they appeared by [[Dutch people|Dutch]] spectacle-maker Johannes Zachariassen that his father, [[Zacharias Janssen]], invented the compound microscope and/or the telescope as early as 1590. Johannes' testimony, which some claim is dubious,<ref>[[#Van Helden|Van Helden]], p. 43</ref><ref name=Shmaefsky>Shmaefsky, Brian (2006) ''Biotechnology 101''. Greenwood. p. 171. {{ISBN|0313335281}}.</ref><ref>Note: stories vary, including Zacharias Janssen had the help of his father Hans Martens (or sometimes said to have been built entirely by his father). Zacharias' probable birth date of 1585 ([[#Van Helden|Van Helden]], p. 28) makes it unlikely he invented it in 1590 and the claim of invention is based on the testimony of Zacharias Janssen's son, Johannes Zachariassen, who may have fabricated the whole story ([[#Van Helden|Van Helden]], p. 43).</ref> pushes the invention date so far back that Zacharias would have been a child at the time, leading to speculation that, for Johannes' claim to be true, the compound microscope would have to have been invented by Johannes' grandfather, Hans Martens.<ref name=Shmaefsky/> Another claim is that Janssen's competitor, [[Hans Lippershey]] (who applied for the first telescope patent in 1608) also invented the compound microscope.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.livescience.com/39649-who-invented-the-microscope.html|title=Who Invented the Microscope?|website=[[Live Science]] |date=14 September 2013 |access-date=31 March 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170203052525/http://www.livescience.com/39649-who-invented-the-microscope.html|archive-date=3 February 2017}}</ref> Other historians point to the Dutch innovator Cornelis Drebbel with his 1621 compound microscope.<ref name="Raymond J. Seeger 2016, page 24"/><ref name="J. William Rosenthal 1996, page 391"/>

[[Galileo Galilei]] is sometimes cited as a compound microscope inventor. After 1610, he found that he could close focus his telescope to view small objects, such as flies, close up<ref>Robert D. Huerta, Giants of Delft: Johannes Vermeer and the Natural Philosophers : the Parallel Search for Knowledge During the Age of Discovery, Bucknell University Press - 2003, page 126</ref> and/or could look through the wrong end in reverse to magnify small objects.<ref>A. Mark Smith, From Sight to Light: The Passage from Ancient to Modern Optics, University of Chicago Press - 2014, page 387</ref> The only drawback was that his 2 foot long telescope had to be extended out to 6 feet to view objects that close.<ref>Daniel J. Boorstin, The Discoverers, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group - 2011, page 327</ref> After seeing the compound microscope built by  Drebbel exhibited in Rome in 1624, Galileo built his own improved version.<ref name="Raymond J. Seeger 2016, page 24"/><ref name="J. William Rosenthal 1996, page 391"/> In 1625, [[Giovanni Faber]] coined the name ''microscope'' for the compound microscope Galileo submitted to the {{lang|it|[[Accademia dei Lincei]]|italic=no}} in 1624 <ref>{{cite book |author=Gould, Stephen Jay |title=The Lying Stones of Marrakech: Penultimate Reflections in Natural History |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780095031417 |url-access=registration | chapter = Chapter 2: The Sharp-Eyed Lynx, Outfoxed by Nature |publisher=Harmony |location=New York, N.Y |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-224-05044-9}}</ref> (Galileo had called it the "''occhiolino''" or "''little eye''"). Faber coined the name from the [[Greek language|Greek]] words ''μικρόν'' (micron) meaning "small", and ''σκοπεῖν'' (skopein) meaning "to look at", a name meant to be analogous with "telescope", another word coined by the Linceans.<ref>[http://brunelleschi.imss.fi.it/esplora/microscopio/dswmedia/risorse/testi_completi.pdf "Il microscopio di Galileo"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080409010159/http://brunelleschi.imss.fi.it/esplora/microscopio/dswmedia/risorse/testi_completi.pdf |date=9 April 2008 }}, Instituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza (in Italian)</ref>

[[Christiaan Huygens]], another Dutchman, developed a simple 2-lens ocular system in the late 17th century that was [[Achromatic lens|achromatically]] corrected, and therefore a huge step forward in microscope development. The Huygens ocular is still being produced to this day, but suffers from a small field size, and other minor disadvantages.{{cn|date=December 2024}}