Editorial | Happy 60th Anniversary!
THE MICROSCOPE
2019, Volume 67:3, p. ii
DOI
https://doi.org/10.59082/CVDZ3919
AUTHOR
Gary J. Laughlin
EXCERPT
The McCrone Research Institute is turning 60, and being that 1960 was our first year, this will be a momentous occasion. I was born at a very young age, but I still missed the beginning when Walter and Lucy McCrone envisioned a world in which an abundance of well-trained microscopists would emerge and reveal an array of hidden truths from their lenses.
Since 1960, the institute has reached more than 33,000 student enrollments. Coincidentally, I am reminded that this was also the year that Hugh Hefner opened the very first Playboy Club in Chicago. And I, like so many other budding microscopists, learned how to identify acrylic fibers at the institute, which Dr. McCrone said that he acquired himself from the costume of one of the original Playboy Bunny waitresses. He left it to the students to figure out which part of the costume and what the other particles in his photomicrograph were — let alone how he managed to collect them! Turns out that the mystery particles are types that every well-trained microscopist should be able to identify: specifically, Orlon® together with cheek epithelial cells (see “What Every Microscopist Should Know” editorials in issues 66:2 and 67:2).
Since 1960, the institute has reached more than 33,000 student enrollments. Coincidentally, I am reminded that this was also the year that Hugh Hefner opened the very first Playboy Club in Chicago. And I, like so many other budding microscopists, learned how to identify acrylic fibers at the institute, which Dr. McCrone said that he acquired himself from the costume of one of the original Playboy Bunny waitresses. He left it to the students to figure out which part of the costume and what the other particles in his photomicrograph were — let alone how he managed to collect them! Turns out that the mystery particles are types that every well-trained microscopist should be able to identify: specifically, Orlon® together with cheek epithelial cells (see “What Every Microscopist Should Know” editorials in issues 66:2 and 67:2).