How We See the Invisible World (Microbiology)

Recall cards on the science of microscopy. The properties of light: wavelength, amplitude, frequency, reflection, absorption, transmission, diffraction, interference, refraction and refractive index, convex and concave lenses, the visible spectrum, dispersion, fluorescence and phosphorescence, and magnification, resolution, and numerical aperture. Peering into the invisible world: Fracastoro's seeds of contagion, van Leeuwenhoek the Father of Microbiology, Hooke and Micrographia, cork cells, simple versus compound microscopes, and Galileo and the Janssens. Instruments of microscopy: total magnification, brightfield, oil immersion, darkfield, phase-contrast, DIC, fluorescence, confocal, two-photon, electron (TEM and SEM), and scanning probe (STM and AFM) microscopes. Staining specimens: fixation, chromophores and basic versus acidic dyes, simple versus differential staining, the Gram stain, acid-fast, endospore, capsule, and flagella staining.