Critical Focus | Microscopy’s Ingenious Legacy

Abstract

Beside the high-tech gadgetry in today’s laboratory reside the basic stains, reagents, and microscopical techniques that date back to more than a century — and remain essential. The history of microscopy is often seen as a specialist subject, and one that doesn’t influence us working in today’s busy modern laboratories. But the history is closer than you think. Look around you. Many of those stains that you take for granted are ancient history. Those computers we use, our mobile phones, the digital equipment, and all that glass and plastic gadgetry are new (indeed, by the time you’ve purchased and installed them, they are already out-of-date). But not the essential stains and reagents. Many have unexpected origins, and some of them tell extraordinary tales.