The first use of the microscope in medicine.

The microscope is undoubtedly one of the greatest inventions that men have ever made. The use of lenses for spectacles (eyeglasses), distant vision (telescopes), and high magnification (microscopes) required early lens makers accurately to grind lenses with different focal lengths. During the 16th and 17th centuries, Holland and Italy were the principal countries for the construction and use of telescopes and microscopes. The compound microscope (with two convex lenses) was invented in Holland around 1590 by two spectacle makers, Hans Jannsen and his son, Zacharias. During the early 1600’s, Galileo (15641642) made several telescopes and microscopes that he called “occhialino.” Also in Italy, James Faber, a physician, coined the word “microscope” in 1625; and the first association of microscopists was formed.