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Alan,

That's a great note.  It harkens to the science of imaging things and  
is one of the reasons we have such a variety of scopes and  
techniques.  It should be noted that the Monterey Bay Aquarium  
experimented with the "controlled" use of research grade dissecting  
scopes  back in the 80's, which turn into a controlled visitor  
directed microscope demolition project and successfully replicated  
smaller experiments that we had run (just kidding!).  User control is  
a key element in any microscope presentation and yet elusive to  
implement.

Charles
On Mar 30, 2007, at 3:59 PM, Alan J. Friedman wrote:

> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology  
> Centers
> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related  
> institutions.
> ********************************************************************** 
> *******
>
> One more note on the microscope discussion:  I don't think anybody has
> questioned Wayne's implied definition of a "real" microscope ("My  
> issue with
> Wentz scopes is that at times I want the visitor to use a real  
> microscope.")
>
> I'll argue that the Wentzscope is a real microscope, as are the  
> various
> video microscopes others have suggested.  There ARE fake  
> microscopes--ones
> sold for classrooms that look like compound microscopes but are  
> not.  They
> are simply slide viewers, and in place of an actual biological  
> specimen,
> there are small small photographs on plastic slides.  The  
> photographs were
> taken through a real microscope, and that's as close to real as  
> these get.
>
> A real microscope has a compound lens system and lets you see a  
> real-time
> view of an object of your choosing.  A Wentzscope meets this  
> definition, as
> do traditional laboratory microscopes, video microscopes, scanning  
> electron
> microscopes, and so on.  The school "microscope" I've described is  
> intended
> to deceive, and offers no advantages over looking at a photograph  
> except
> that it tricks students into thinking they are using a real  
> microscope.
>
> I am sympathetic with Wayne's desire to give visitors an experience  
> with an
> instrument identical to those which professionals use, and which  
> visitors
> will recognize as such.  Many professionals today use video  
> microscopes, or
> other devices that look nothing like the traditional design, but  
> visitors
> probably don't realize that.  So putting a classic Zeiss, Bausch &  
> Lomb,
> Olympus, or other expensive instrument out seems to be an attractive
> proposition.  The difficulty is that they tend to be difficult to  
> use and to
> break easily.  Setting up visitors for failure isn't something we  
> want to
> do.
>
> When the NY Hall of Science was developing its first microscope- 
> intensive
> exhibition 20 years ago, we bought one of every major brand of  
> microscope
> for prototype testing.  We needed fairly high magnification to see  
> living
> microbes.  The microscopes we bought either broke down, or visitors  
> couldn't
> figure out how to use them, or both.  We also surveyed microscopes in
> museums around the world, and didn't find anything that worked,  
> with the
> exception of an early video microscope and a projection microscope,  
> but both
> were too bulky and expensive for us.  In France I saw an elaborate
> exhibition with Zeiss research grade microscopes.  The microscopes  
> were
> surrounded by custom plexiglass cases, and only a couple of  
> controls could
> be manipulated with friction-clutch knobs on shafts that stuck out  
> of the
> cases.  Even so, all of the microscopes in the exhibit were broken and
> unusable.
>
> In response to our problem, Budd Wentz, who was a consultant for us  
> at the
> time, finished a design he had in mind for years, and produced the  
> first
> wooden-body Wentzscope.  The rest of the story you know.
>
> So I see the challenge not one of getting real microscopes on the  
> exhibit
> floor, but finding a way so that visitors realize that video  
> microscopes or
> Wentzscopes are just as real as the iconic ones seen on television  
> in crime
> labs.
>
> Alan
>
> ****************************************************
> Alan J. Friedman, Ph.D.
> Consultant
> Museum Development and Science Communication
> 29 West 10th Street
> New York, New York 10011 USA
> T  +1 917 882-6671
> F  +1 212 673-2279
> E  [log in to unmask]
>
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Charles Carlson
Director of Life Sciences
exploratorium
3601 Lyon St.
San Francisco, CA 94123
[log in to unmask]
Tel:   415-561-0319
Fax:  415-561-0370



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