mikroskopii

Mikroskopii, or microscopy, is the science and practice of using microscopes to observe objects that are too small to see with the naked eye. The field covers a range of techniques that illuminate, magnify, and image specimens, from biological tissues to materials and nanostructures.

Historically, improvements in lens design in the 17th century enabled the first observations by Antonie van Leeuwenhoek and Robert Hooke, which gave rise to microbiology. The 19th and 20th centuries saw the development of compound light microscopes, staining methods, and, later, electron and scanning probe methods that achieved far higher resolution and different contrast mechanisms.

Light microscopy is based on visible light. It includes bright-field, phase-contrast, differential interference contrast, fluorescence, and confocal microscopy. Electron microscopy uses beams of electrons to achieve much finer detail and includes transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Scanning probe techniques such as atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) image surfaces at near-atomic scales.

Sample preparation varies by technique and can involve fixation, dehydration, embedding, sectioning, and various stains or labels. Live-cell imaging and noninvasive labeling are also used. All microscopy is subject to artifacts and limits of resolution, with diffraction limiting optical methods to about 200 nanometers, while electron and scanning probe methods reach much higher resolution.

Applications include biology, medicine, pathology, materials science, geology, and nanotechnology, where microscopy informs diagnosis, research, quality control, and discovery.