MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

Hello All,

Children born of the Apollo space age with an inclination towards science, as I was, all wanted a microscope, a telescope and a chemistry set.

My microscope was by Lafeyette Radio Electronics. It was a lower-end model, in black-painted cast iron, with four objectives and no fine focus knob. It came in a case with a small kit of slides and other accessories, and I spent many hours using it.

Despite it being my pride and joy, I was jealous of several of my neighbors, who all had more futuristic-looking models sporting fantastically-higher magnifications. One day, we all got together to compare images from them. In the end, they all reluctantly agreed that mine was head-and-shoulders above theirs.

One of the objectives required oil, but I used it dry (which was virtually useless). The slim instruction manual discussed using oil, and one day I set my mind to finally trying that. Unfortunately, my kid-brain confused oil with Canada balsam (or whatever the included mountant was). As I was beginning to dip the objective in, a nagging feeling crept up on me that this was all wrong, and I stopped when only the edge of the objective's glass was in it. The result was still catastrophic, and I felt great shame over my mistake!

At school, we were once given the opportunity to observe Paramecium under their microscopes. The Paramecium were so large, and my youthful near vision was so sharp, that I could see them with my naked eye. My class partner didn't believe me, and so I showed that I could position a paramecium straight under the objective using only my naked eye. Despite successfully doing so, he still didn't believe me.

My father had an 8mm motion picture camera, and for a science-class project I managed to get a blurry and badly-skewed image through the ocular. I captured some creatures from the local pond with it. Film and processing was very expensive, though, and to make the most of it (so I thought) I filmed it at half speed, which when projected meant twice normal speed. This was a mistake, since the creatures were moving too fast for that - something I only found out after development. So between the speed and the lack of alignment, the result was not terribly impressive. To make matters worse, another student turned up with stunning professional micro-photographs that "he" made, totally overshadowing my own attempt. Grr!

My childhood microscope was lost to time. I wish I could be certain which model it was so I could hunt one down again. Alas, I'll have to be satisfied with the vastly better one that I just ordered.

What are some of your earliest memories of microscopes?

Slurping up Paramoecium Caudatum and Amoeba Proteus singly with an eyedropper, to put on a slide. It became a sort of spectator sport.

zondar wrote: ↑

Sun May 05, 2024 4:13 pm

Children born of the Apollo space age with an inclination towards science, as I was, all wanted a microscope, a telescope and a chemistry set.

Never wanted a telescope but hat a microscope and a lot of chemistry stuff.

Many of the experiments I did, would be considered a criminal offense today. As many of my age I successfully made picric acid but failed to make TNT.

The microscope I had was very basic but I could not afford anything better than that. My limited money went into chemicals.

Although its exact location on a chromosome remains elusive, I seem to have been born with the tool gene - playing with them from the earliest age. My Mom got a teaching degree before WWII and an engineering degree during it. My parents started a family after dad returned from WWII, living on campus at Penn State. While finishing his industrial engineering degree and working part-time, Dad would open up his toolbox upon returning evenings for me to play with. Mom half-seriously said I learned to say "driver" (screwdriver) before "mama."

One Grandparent had a self-built summer home with cool junk for my brother, cousins, and I to play with. We built boats and forts, pulled corn from the huge garden, and unsuccessfully hunted rabbits with a bow and arrow. The other Grandfater owned an auto garage, where I apparently lugged around the biggest tools I could find. My first microscope came to me from my Grandmother's father - a beautiful old brass instrument from the 1880s - along with a painstakingly made chest with inserts for tools, chemicals, slides, and more. Old Turkish cigarette boxes held many of the samples.

Scope work gave way to electrical work (we built a telegraph between houses in the fourth grade). In sixth grade, Dad came home with several cartons of chemicals donated to the high school and judged too dangerous for them. So, like Alexander, it was a tug-of-war between curiosity and disaster. One thing I learned (it should have been perfectly obvious, even to a kid) was not to attempt a borax bead test on any chemical with a name ending in peroxide. We didn't get to TNT either, though, like many kids our age, certainly learned how to power a rocket.

A return to microscopy came late in age. Multiple doctors assured me I was about to die of cancer. Turns out, I'm happily living past my expiration date. My "Micronaut" program was chosen as a fun way to give back and create some curiosity and determination for a next generation of kids -- much as I was so lucky to have had supported by my parents and extended family along the way.

My very earliest memories are of what was really a toy microscope given to me as a Christmas present almost 70 years ago. It gave very poor images but sparked my interest. Then a few years later I came across a beautiful microscope made by R Winkel of Gottingen in 1923. The shop owner agreed to let me pay it off as I aquired the money from weekend jobs and it was many months before I had paid off the grand sum of £25. I still remember the absolute joy when I made the final payment and took it home on Christmas Eve of 1963.
It’s still a pleasure to look at and handle even though the microscope I now use most is an Olympus IMT2 or a Leitz Wetzlar Dialux.

My first microscope was one of those kids microscopes you might find in a toy shop, as I always wanted to be a scientist when I was a kid. I could get the lower power objectives working, but I never could see anything through the higher objectives. Being the early 90's, I couldn't just go online to figure out how to use it. I got bored of that pretty quickly as it didn't live up to my childlike expectations. I didn't want a toy, I wanted a microscope!

Fast forward to a bit over a year ago, and my partner surprised me with $500 to spend on a microscope for my birthday. Knowing nothing about microscopes, I purchased a Chinese microscope that was supposed to be brand new but I later figured out it had been used and returned (and deceivingly sold to me as brand new by a microscope shop). This microscope had alignment issues which created aboration. Probably why it was returned in the first place.

To look on the bright side, the Chinese microscope taught me enough about microscopes to be able to use them and also taught me to know what I want and don't want in a microscope.

With this new knowledge, I have purchased a Leitz Sm-lux and a Zeiss Standard 14 w/phase contrast condenser.

Hi, zondar,...err, your history is totally wrong..and perhaps you are blending history of the US vrs USSR 'space race' of circa 1957 "Sputnik" ...with what ever your recall of your childhood recall of US/NASA appolo program.

By the time of Appolo /Nasa programs..'chemistry sets'/ 'erector mechanical sets', 'cheap store offered telescopes and microscopes' were thankfully no longer a pitch to parents for their dear children to embark on a career

in science.

If you wish to post querries of :" first memories of experiences with microscopes"..just be honest and tell this forum when you were a child, where you first encountered 'microscopes'...and where you resided during: 'US/Appolo program'.

Chemistry sets, erector mechanical sets, crappy telescopes, crappy microscopes, were part of US/ vrs USSR 'space race' after USSR launched first man made earth orbiting sattelite : "sputnick" in fall of 1957.

all the best, charlie g

So the multiverse theory of reality is true? I don't know about yours, but in my time-line - most definitely during the Apollo space program - I had a chemistry set, an erector set, a telescope and a microscope.

All just cheap kids things, of course, but now I get to buy much bigger and more expensive ones! Yay!

The late 1960's ( apollo program 1967-1969) were far, far from 'chemistry sets'/ 'erector mechanical sets'/ cheap microscopes and cheap telescopes..the late ''60's' were a time of the counter-culture...rejection of: 'the man'..

nothing to do with a 'multiverse theory of reality'...but your welcome to ( as timothy leary posited: 'turn on, tune in, drop out' in 1966) write your own history.

And yes, you could still find crappy brine shrimp kits on box store shelves..pitched as: "Sea Monkeys"..right up till ( last time I noticed) the 2001 time frame.

There must have been sufficient interest in microscopes and telescopes right along because although Tasco did offer a spartan line of professional lab scopes, mostly monocular, 3 objective basic Kyowa units : they were hardly a first choice . Yet, Tasco maintained enough of a presence in the supply of cheap optical goods that they ended up purchasing Celestron. One would have thought the reverse would have been the case.

OK, Charlie, if you say so then I am obviously wrong and confused. Must have been due to all that counter-cultural acid I was dropping while 10 years old.

Anyway, I've been enjoying all the stories.

My earliest experience and memories of microscopy was as kindergarten child at our public swimming pool with those spray shower heads about the sides of the water pool. We kids often tried to sit on these sprays of water.

The mists of fine water droplets settled on your upper eyelashes..and as you squinted nearly closing your eyes..magically, mysteriously a dense forest of thick tree trunks abruptly appeared, abruptly changed orientations..especialy

when I squinted in the direction of bright sky. I did not then seem capable of choosing words to ask about, to talk about these dense forests to get explanation of this event. Years latter I realized that tiny water droplets settled on my

upper eyelashes..were functioning as single len microscopes..at near closed eye squints..I was observing greatly magnified eyelashes. all the best, charlie g

My earliest experience using a microscope was buying a very cheap toy stand at a yard sale in my neighborhood around 12 years ago for 2 dollars. 9 year old me quickly fell down the rabbit hole of microscopy, checking out books at my school library and searching the web for as much information as I could. The stand was the Amscope toy microscope kit kind, with a built-in LED illuminator and a mirror. It was plenty good enough for me to look at pond water and thin plant sections and keep the spark going .