The Microscope – Volume 73, First Quarter 2026
IN THIS ISSUE
On the cover
The Bell System Science Experiment No. 4 kit included a ready-to-assemble paperboard polarized light microscope (PLM) shown here fully assembled and ready to be used for a wide range of experiments. See Crystals and Light: The Bell System Science Experiment No. 4 and Elizabeth Wood, page 3. (Courtesy of Wayne Moorehead)
Editorial | Microscopy Fact or Friction
Gary J. LaughlinThe Microscope 73:1, p. ii, 2026https://doi.org/10.59082/TNCA7241
Excerpt: In 1976, our country turned 200 years old, The Microscope was in its 39th year of production, and McCrone Research Institute was celebrating its sweet sixteen in Chicago. An annual subscription to the journal cost $30. Here we are fifty years later, and upcoming is the 250th anniversary of the United States, The Microscope turns a respectable 89 years old, McCrone Research Institute is now 66, and by coincidence, a subscription to The Microscope is currently $66. By way of an inflation calculator, the $30 subscription rate in 1976 would be equivalent in purchasing power to $176 today. Do not be too concerned, Microscope Publications are not ready to increase our rates (they are more interested in increasing readership) but we are looking at where the microscope and especially the polarized light microscope stands on the occasion of the Semiquincentennial of 2026, compared to the Bicentennial of 1976.
Crystals and Light: The Bell System Science Experiment No. 4 and Elizabeth Wood
Wayne MooreheadThe Microscope 73:1, pp. 3–12, 2026https://doi.org/10.59082/GXYC6401
Abstract: In the mid-1960s, the Bell System produced a total of five experiment kits, free to any high school teacher or instructor that asked for them. The first three experiments concerned the high technology of the day regarding telecommunications: magnetism, solar energy, crystal growth (transistors), and electronic speech. The fifth experiment simulated the activity of computers of the day. The fourth experiment (Bell System Science Experiment No. 4) taught the students about crystals and light and included the book Experiments with Crystals and Light, a laboratory manual written by Elizabeth Wood, together with minerals, chemicals, and other materials to perform the experiments. Also included was a simple polarized light microscope kit (to build and use) and Wood’s book Crystals and Light: An Introduction to Optical Crystallography to explain the theory behind the observations obtained in the experiments.
This paper presents a brief history of the Bell System experiments, describes the contents of the Bell System Science Experiment No. 4, and describes, with images, selected experiments from the laboratory manual.
A Study of Optical Diffraction Patterns: Guide to Practical Demonstrations Using Sieves for TEM Training
James R. Millette and Steven P. Compton
The Microscope 73:1, pp. 13–21, 2026
https://doi.org/10.59082/GCYE9458
Abstract: Thomas Young performed his famous double-slit diffraction experiment in 1801 in which he concluded that light propagated as a wave. The optical diffraction formula credited to Joseph von Fraunhofer for his work with diffraction gratings in 1821 is given by nλ = d sin (θ), where: n is the integer order of the fringe, λ is the wavelength of the light, d is the grating spacing, and θ is the angle of incidence from diffracting grating to the diffraction fringe pattern on a screen. A sieve that has been manufactured to ASTM standards produces a two-dimensional optical diffraction pattern that forms as an interference pattern of diffraction from multiple point sources.
The experiment described in this article was performed using four new sieves (200-, 325-, 400-, and 500-mesh) and one clean, used sieve (60-mesh). A 650 nm red laser was used as a source for all 5 sieves. The d-spacing of the various sieves, which is called the "pitch," aperture/hole (opening) plus the wire/bar, was calculated from the optical diffraction equation using the wavelength of the laser light, diffraction pattern measurements, and the distance from the sieve to the wall. For each sieve, the pitch was also estimated from a simple equation involving the mesh value and from estimated ranges (minimum and maximum) of standard values published in ASTM E11-22; Standard Specification for Woven Wire Test Sieve Cloth and Test Sieves.
The Microscope Past: Fifty Years Ago | Microscopes on Postage Stamps
John Gustav Delly
The Microscope 73:1, pp. 22–33, 1976
Originally published in The Microscope, Vol. 24, Fourth Quarter, pp. 279–290, 1976.
Abstract: About 25 years ago an anonymously written notice in the Microscope (Vol. 8, p. 306, 1952) called attention to a postage stamp issued by the Saar which depicted a microscope (Scott 203). Two letters followed: one calling attention to three other stamps (France B76, B232, Russia 782), Microscope (Vol. 9, p. 51, 1952); the second recalling a portrait of the noted histologist, Santiago Cajal (Spain 545), The Microscope (Vol. 9, p. 109, 1953). These were followed by an article on the entire subject, also in Microscope (Vol. 9, pp. 309–314, 1953). The information in the present column is based on a survey of the illustrations in the three-volume Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue (1975); the numbers above, incidentally, refer to the Scott catalogue number. There are, undoubtedly, a number of microscope stamps which I have missed–especially those which are not illustrated–and I would appreciate readers notifying me of such omissions. Other stamp catalogues include the Minkus in the U.S. and the Stanley Gibbons in the U.K.
Critical Focus | The Man Who Gave the Cell Its Nucleus
Brian J. Ford
The Microscope 73:1, pp. 34–47, 2026https://doi.org/10.59082/SIDY455
Excerpt: The brick-built building housing Twentieth Century Fox stood at 32 Soho Square in the center of London. Their mock-Georgian premises had been completed in 1938, and hundreds of staff worked there, linking to the 8 branch offices spread across Britain. The premises are empty now, and due for development, but they were a center for the British entertainment industry.
That same address, 200 years ago, was Robert Brown’s home. He was an astonishingly accomplished microscopist, one of the greatest that science has ever known. Brown is the microscopist who identified the cell nucleus, and from whom Brownian Motion was named. In 1826, 200 years ago, he was researching the structure of the angiosperm ovule. He noted the position and nature of the nucleus and the micropyle (the minuscule aperture through which the pollen tube enters), and he noted that the apex of the ovule is where the future embryo would form … this is all detailed microscopy which anyone today would find difficult and demanding.
Afterimage | Monarch Butterfly Wing
Sebastian B. Sparenga — McCrone Research InstituteThe Microscope 73:1, p. 48, 2026
Closeup view of the surface of a monarch butterfly wing at low magnification using a 4× objective and oblique reflected-light illumination. A total of 8 photomicrographs were obtained, by focus stacking the wing on the light microscope, and merged into the final sharp image using Photoshop. Thousands of microscopic, overlapping brown, orange, and white chitinous scales are observed to be arranged like shingles on a roof.
Closeup view of the surface of a monarch butterfly wing at low magnification using a 4× objective and oblique reflected-light illumination. A total of 8 photomicrographs were obtained, by focus stacking the wing on the light microscope, and merged into the final sharp image using Photoshop. Thousands of microscopic, overlapping brown, orange, and white chitinous scales are observed to be arranged like shingles on a roof.
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