Prototype of electron microscope, J.B. le Poole, 1941
Inv. V05964

Seeing small details in microscopic objects is limited by the wavelength of the light used at the observation. For an ordinary optical microscope this means that you can magnify objects to a maximum of some 1200 times. Through the invention of the electron microscope, objects could be magnified up to 80,000 times. The principle of the electron microscope is that the light is no longer refracted by glass lenses but by electromagnetic fields. The first electron microscope was built in Germany in about 1931. In the Netherlands a prototype was developed in about 1941 by J.B. le Poole from Delft. Through this new technique, such things as viruses, bacteria and DNA could be made visible down to the smallest details.