The Royal Society and the microscope

Abstract

From the earliest years of the Society until the start of the Third Millennium, Fellows of the Society have been actively developing the microscope and its uses, from Robert Hooke's pioneering microscopy to the varied forms of the electron microscope. With it they have elucidated the structure of matter, from oolitic limestone to bread, and the nature of living organisms, from microbes in vinegar to current studies of DNA and the folding of proteins.