Who Invented the First Digital Microscope?
The digital microscope represents a Japanese invention from 1986 that has changed the way elements can be observed through a microscope. The concept expands beyond just magnifying the picture of a site under observation. It projects an enlarged representation of the area onto a computer screen. This facilitates the viewing from more people than just the observer. Furthermore, the image, recorded in digital format, can now be stored into a digital library of images and scientists can run image-processing analyses similar to the ones performed in digital photography.
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Inventor
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Hirox Co Ltd., a Tokyo company, invented and developed the first digital microscope by cleverly adding a conversion function that translated the visual image into a digital picture. In 1986, this company had been in existence for eight years and was known for manufacturing high-end quality lenses for optical systems. Hirox still operates today and benefits from a global presence.
First Inventive Concept
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Hirox's novel approach was to convert the visual image with a charge-couple device (CCD). This device acts like a camera where each point of the image is projected onto a photoactive region of a capacitor array. Each one of the capacitors can accumulate an electric charge proportional to the light intensity. This high-resolution map of charge levels is loaded into a computer and converted into a digital picture.
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Second Inventive Concept
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The magnification did not require the juxtaposition of optical lenses as previously done but could simply be applied by displaying the electronic image on a large computer screen. The larger the screen, the greater the magnification became.
Improvements
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Hirox and other companies, such as Keyence and Leica Microsystems, further enhanced the concept by improving the magnification capabilities and refining the image quality. The technology evolved to support the rapid capture of subsequent shots to illustrate an element evolving under the eyes of the observer. The introduction of digital cameras with a port for the Universal Serial Bus (USB) cartridge allowed users to connect the camera to their own computer. This feature facilitated the adoption of the technology from the expert laboratories to the hands of novices.
Latest Advancement
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Digital microscopes equipped with sophisticated software can construct 3D images of the point of observation. This is achieved by changing the focal distance from the object to the camera using a step motor. The superposition of the images creates a 3D imaging effect that is enhanced with shadow contrast.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit Microscope image by e-pyton from Fotolia.com
