This article tells of the development of the instrument microscope from its simplest structure to the more complex structure today. The article tells that the microscope originated in the 15th century. It is this instrument that revealed the microscopic world. The article explains that these instruments played such a crucial role in helping to explain the relationship between microorganisms and disease. These instruments have even become symbols of scientific medicine. The earliest microscopes used a single lens. This very simple structure has lead to a lot of discoveries in the microscopic world. It is said that the credit for making the first compound microscope is given to Zacharias Janssen of Middleburg, Holland. He was known to be a maker of Dutch eyeglasses and he is likewise an inventor. It was in 1595 when Janssen invented the microscope. It has become a controversy because some believe that it could be his father, Hans Janssen who made the first one. Many believe that Zach only was responsible for its production.

The first compound microscopes that the Janssens made were simply a tube with lenses at each of its ends. It was able to magnify from a range of 3 times to 9 times. It depends on the diaphragm opening sixes though. Attempts to improve the microscope led to designs using multiple lenses, around the year of 1660, Hooke improved the early compound microscope. He based his inventions from pure research. This inventor was responsible for giving birth to the word cell in 1665 when he was describing the features of plant tissues with his microscope. Anton van Leeuwenhoek was an inventor, a wine assayer, a cloth merchant. He was also known to be a minor public official and a surveyor during his time from 1632 up to 1723. The inventor made simple microscopes. His work is a microscope with a single lens. It is said that the microscopes that this man built were the best during his time period. He was the very first person to ever describe bacteria through the use of simple microscope, which were from teeth scrapings, protozoan, which were from pond water, and this helped him prove his theory of blood circulation. In the year of 1830, Joseph Jackson Lister, an English microscopist, developed a theory that provided the basis for rationale lens design. He has been known for proving his scientific methods, which he had been working on for some time and founded modern antiseptic surgery based originally on Louis Pasteurs theories of bacteria and infection. He used carbolic acid as the antiseptic agent and heat sterilised instruments. He also developed absorbable ligatures drainage tubes, which have come into general surgical use. By 1880, progress in the design of lenses enabled light microscopes to reach their full theoretical resolving power. August Kohler, of 1880 C.E., found out and figured the best spacing for the light and condenser in order to produce sharp images when using the microscope. Max Knoll and Ernst Ruska made the very first electron microscope. They lived around 1931 C.E. Ernst Ruska was able to increase the magnification properties of the electron microscope up to levels even higher than that of compound light microscopes. More on this topic