“In the year of 1657 I discovered very small living creatures in rain water.” This quote is attributed to Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, a Dutch merchant whose skillful use of glass lenses allowed him to peer into a world of microorganisms that would otherwise be invisible to the naked eye. His careful observations gave way to advances in microscopy that have allowed scientists to observe detailed structures of plants, viruses invading cells, intricate crystal lattices and the seemingly chaotic motion of small particles. In this course, microscopy is explored, first by examining the fundamentals of systems used to magnify objects, and eventually by using sophisticated setups to make observations. A special emphasis will be placed on capturing images of natural animate and inanimate phenomena that constitute seven wonders of the invisible world.

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Seven Wonders of the Invisible World