The Fascinating Conflict Between the Telescope and the Microscope (Based on a TRUE STORY)
Originally, this concept was going to be a book, but I thought I’d rather turn it into a blog post and focus on the novels I’m currently writing. This somewhat deviates from my normal articles, but I thought this was a really interesting subject I REALLY wanted to write about. I’ve always been fascinated by not only telescopes and microscopes, but the worlds they provide us. Now, add in the fact that there’s a lot of controversy around the subject and I’m SOLD. Going forward, imagine I’m Miss Frizzle on the Magic School Bus and I have crazy curly red hair. Actually, don’t imagine that. Let’s just dive in.
Artwork by my wife, Tiffany Kuhns.
Somewhere around 2015-ish, I stumbled upon a really interesting bit of history I never knew and it involved a scandal I still think about to this day (Well, obviously since I’m writing an article about it.) I believe I was looking up the origin of the telescope in relation to Galileo in order to build one of my very own. I wanted to replicate one of his early designs. I never did piece together a telescope, though I did purchase a Celestron Cosmos-themed 60AZ from a closing Brookstone in Dallas’ Galleria Mall. You can see it in all of its glory below as it sits in my office now begging to be taken out again.
While researching the inception of the telescope, I grew curious about its brother, the microscope. Since both devices manipulate light and take advantage of glass to view an image outside of our general visual spectrum, I wondered, how long did it take to invent the opposite? I knew the microscope had been the latter of the two, (or so I thought) but how closely they were they tied to one another surprised me.
Before we talk about timelines and scandals though, let’s touch on not only what telescopes and microscopes are, but how they work. You may be saying, “Well, duh, Eric. Microscopes see small things and telescopes see far away things.” True statements all around, but do we really understand the intricacies of how they work? I know I didn’t.
What and How? Telescopes.
Simply put, telescopes are optical instruments that make distant objects seem closer and are seen in greater detail. The Greek word “Tele-” means "far, far off; operating over distance". We often use telescopes to see far into space to identify our moon, other moons, and planets, as well as distant stars and galaxies. This all works by arranging curved mirrors and lenses in optimal ways, but HOW does it really work?
Imagine a small popsicle stick 150 feet away stuck in the ground. On it, there is a sentence written. You can’t read it from 150 feet away, but that’s because the stick doesn’t take up much room on your eye’s screen, A.K.A. your retina. However, if your eye were “bigger” and could take in more light from the object to create a brighter and clearer image, you could focus on it. That’s what telescopes do.
The object lens/primary mirror collects a ton of light from the object you’re looking at and focuses that light on the object. Then, the eyepiece lens takes all of that bright light that’s being focused on and spreads it across your entire retina. A magnifying glass does something similar on a piece of paper, but we’ll get to that next.
What and How? Microscopes.
Like telescopes, microscopes are really just cylinders stuffed with lenses that manipulate light for our bidding, though they focus on the small rather than the far away. Microscopes can be as simple as a magnifying glass that you hold. Alternatively, it can be an electron microscope that can magnify upwards of 10 million times. How do they actually work though?
Remember how the telescope takes the light of an object and focuses it to fit your retinas? Microscopes preform as a similar tool. Imagine looking at a surface like your keyboard. You see keys and maybe some Oreo crumbs, but can you see the bacteria, individual dust particles, and your smallest skin flakes? No, but that’s hardly your fault. Your eyes just aren’t capable of processing details that are millionths of a meter or more.
Here’s a thorough example of how that works from explainthatstuff.com:
The microscope rests securely on a stand on a table.
Daylight from the room (or from a bright lamp) shines in at the bottom.
The light rays hit an angled mirror and change direction, traveling straight up toward the specimen. The mirror pivots. You can adjust it to capture more light and alter the brightness of the image you see.
The light rays pass through a hole in an adjustable horizontal platform called the stage.
The stage moves up and down when you turn a thumbwheel on the side of the microscope. By raising and lowering the stage, you move the lenses closer to or further away from the object you're examining, adjusting the focus of the image you see.
To look at something under a microscope (such as a plant leaf), you prepare a specimen of it. The specimen has to be a very thin slice so light rays will pass through.
You mount the specimen on a glass slide with a glass coverslip on top to keep it in place.
The slide is held in place by two metal clips, one on either side.
Light traveling up from the mirror passes through the glass slide, specimen, and coverslip to the objective lens (the one closest to the object). This makes the first magnification: it works by spreading out light rays from the specimen so they appear to come from a bigger object. The objective "lens" usually consists of more than one lens.
A selection of other objective lenses can be used to magnify the specimen by more or less.
The thumbwheel makes it easy to swing the other lenses into position.
The eyepiece lens (the one closest to your eye) magnifies the image from the objective lens, rather like a magnifying glass.
On some microscopes, you can move the eyepiece up and down by turning a wheel. This gives you fine control or "fine-tuning" of the focus.
You look down on a magnified image of the object.
Diagram for reference below.
Okay, enough with the specifics. Let’s get to the part where…
The Scandal Unfolds
Most people associate Galileo with the invention of the telescope, however, its “real” creator was a Dutch eyeglass maker named Hans Lippershey in 1608, (or at least he’s the first to file for a patent on the instrument). The true history of the telescope is a bit muddied because some think Lippershey stole the idea from a fellow glassmaker named Zacharias Janssen who happened to live in the same town. To add to the confusion, another man named Jacob Metius applied for a patent just weeks after Lippershey. Although we may never know who truly came up with the idea, scholars tend to agree that there is no evidence to suggest that Lippershey did not invent it on his own, so the honor is given to him.
The reason Galileo may be conflated with the original inventor(s) is that in 1609, after hearing of its inception, he created his own within a matter of days and his telescope was far better. It could magnify objects 20 times. It may seem obvious to us now, but he was the first to point the instrument toward the sky. With this new scientific power, he discovered the rings of Saturn, four of Jupiter’s moons, and sunspots. After many observations, Galileo was convinced of the Copernican, heliocentric view of our solar system - the sun was at the center and we gravitated around it. Although this would later be confirmed to be the truth, Galileo was brought before the Roman inquisition and sentenced to house arrest for the remainder of his life.
Remember Zacharias Janssen and Hans Lippershey? Well, it turns we don’t know which of them invented the microscope either, but this time, we give it to Janssen and his family. According to a Dutch diplomat named William Boreel, Zacharias had been sending letters to him about his invention when Zacharias was just a teenager in the 1590s. This kind of makes me question whether he was the real inventor of the telescope as well…
My Conclusion.
When I first heard the dates I thought it was astounding these two inventions were made so close in time, but after researching, it really all makes a lot of sense. In my opinion, Zacharias was probably the inventor of both the telescope and the microscope. At some point, word had gotten out and passed through the ears of Hans Lippershey and he began making his own to patent. It reminds me of Edison and Tesla’s story which is explored thoroughly in a book called, “Lightning in His Hand: The Life Story of Nikola Tesla”.
Whoever actually invented the telescope and the microscope, have forever changed the way humanity looks at the universe in the largest and smallest ways possible. To me, these are two of the most important inventions ever made, especially now as they help us to advance our sciences and fight infectious diseases such as COVID-19. Though we may never know who invented the instruments with absolute certainty, I’m certainly leaning a certain way.
