Object Details
Description
Solar microscopes were introduced around 1740, and still popular in the nineteenth century. This incomplete example--only the mirror and window frame remain--may have been made in Paris around 1850 and used for public lectures at the Smithsonian.
Ref: Lerebours et Secretan, Catalogue et Prix des Instruments (Paris, 1853), pp. 11-12.
Deborah Warner, “Projection Apparatus for Science in Antebellum America,” Rittenhouse 6 (1992): 87-94.
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
PH.315162
catalog number
315162
accession number
219145
Object Name
Solar Microscope
Physical Description
brass (overall material)
Measurements
overall: 9 1/8 in x 9 1/8 in x 12 1/2 in; 23.1775 cm x 23.1775 cm x 31.75 cm
See more items in
Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
Microscopes
Science & Mathematics
Data Source
National Museum of American History
Subject
Science & Scientific Instruments
Link to Original Record
Record ID
nmah_1695374