Solar microscope

The instrument was bought by Giovanni Poleni for the Cabinet of Physics of Padua University between 5 August 1753 and 18 August 1755. Poleni catalogued it in his Indice delle Macchine as “A solar microscope, 8 ½ inches long. It serves to enlarge very small objects”.

Inventor: Johann Nathanael Lieberküen, b.1711 - d.1756

Maker: Carlo Antonio Castelnovo

Date: 3rd quarter 18th century

Description

The instrument consists of a brass tube containing on one side a plano-convex lens and a stage, to hold  the specimen to be observed. To focus the image, the stage was slid along a part of the tube thanks to a screw. At the other side of the tube is inserted a divergent lens and a mirror, that can be adjusted to focus the solar rays into the device. The instrument was fixed to the wall of a dark room, with the mirror placed outside, and the specimen was thus projected and enlarged up to several hundred times. Small objects or animals, very often insects, were usually used. A screw served to rotate the mirror around the tube’s axis, while a small rod was intended to change the angle of the mirror as well. Solar microscopes were designed by the German scientist Johann Nathanael Lieberküen in 1743.


Materials and techniques: brass/glass/wood/speculum

Dimensions: width 17 cm, depth 40 cm, length 17 cm

Related scholars: Giovanni Poleni (b.1683 - d.1761). Professor of Experimental Philosophy at the University of Padua from 1739 to 1761.

Keywords: optics, pre-cinema

University of Padua, Museum of the History of Physics

Cat. Number: 87

Bibliography

  • Giovanni Poleni, Indice delle macchine, Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana di Venezia, mss.it., cl. III, 54-55 = 4969-4970, cl. IV, 626 = 5488, 636 = 5497 [It was written by Giovanni Poleni from 1740 to 1761]