Greetings from Brisbane (Australia).
Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2022 2:07 pm
I’m getting involved with microscopy again after a forty year break.
I gained a geology degree in 1974; using learning optical mineralogy and petrology student-grade petrological microscope in lab coursework. Honours research work in 1973 involved using research-grade microscopes. This included some determination of mineral properties in thin section using a universal-stage.
One job after graduation was a research assistant position involving coarse-grained igneous rocks. Most petrological microscopes have a maximum field width of ~5mm; which is really too small for some of the very coarse-grained rocks being studied. To cover these coarser rocks I was given the job of commissioning and using a Leitz Aristophot for photographing stained and un-stained slabs, and thin-sections of coarse-grained rocks. Another aspect of the research was mineral analysis on polished thin-sections of rock using a ETEC electron-probe micro-analyser (EPMA). I kept up my optical and mineralogical skills to identify and aim the electron beam at the analytical targets.
After the mid-1980s I worked in the mineral exploration and mining industries, and didn’t touch a microscope again. In retirement I’ve resumed an interest in photomacrography, especially of small features in hand specimens of rocks. So I’m a bit like a user of a stereomicroscope, in terms of magnification and style of illumination. This is my interest in microscopy.
I gained a geology degree in 1974; using learning optical mineralogy and petrology student-grade petrological microscope in lab coursework. Honours research work in 1973 involved using research-grade microscopes. This included some determination of mineral properties in thin section using a universal-stage.
One job after graduation was a research assistant position involving coarse-grained igneous rocks. Most petrological microscopes have a maximum field width of ~5mm; which is really too small for some of the very coarse-grained rocks being studied. To cover these coarser rocks I was given the job of commissioning and using a Leitz Aristophot for photographing stained and un-stained slabs, and thin-sections of coarse-grained rocks. Another aspect of the research was mineral analysis on polished thin-sections of rock using a ETEC electron-probe micro-analyser (EPMA). I kept up my optical and mineralogical skills to identify and aim the electron beam at the analytical targets.
After the mid-1980s I worked in the mineral exploration and mining industries, and didn’t touch a microscope again. In retirement I’ve resumed an interest in photomacrography, especially of small features in hand specimens of rocks. So I’m a bit like a user of a stereomicroscope, in terms of magnification and style of illumination. This is my interest in microscopy.