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Talk Overview: Joseph Gall takes us through the history of early microscopes and the discovery of the cell. Compound microscopes were invented alongside the telescope in the 17th century; however these microscopes were not widely used until the late 19th century due to optical aberrations. In the meantime, simple microscopes were used throughout the 1700s and 1800s to make major discoveries in biology, including the first descriptions of the nucleus, cilia, cells, bacteria, and protozoans. Once optics improved in the mid to late 1800s, compound microscopes were used to discover chromosomes, mitosis, and other cellular structures.
About the Speaker: Joe Gall: Joseph Gall is a Professor at the Carnegie Institution for Science and is a leader in the field of cell biology. He has spent much of his career studying the nucleus and its contents, and has made numerous significant contributions to our understanding of chromosome structure and function. Gall, a distinguished microscopist, is one of the first members and an early president of the American Society for Cell Biology. Gall, who is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, has received numerous awards for his contributions to science, including the Louisa Horwitz Prize and an Albert Lasker Special Achievement Award.