From Leeuwenhoek and Hooke to ImageJ: photonic microscopy, digital photomicrography, and digital image analysis

Angélica L. Serrano-Ahumada, APADI Laboratory, Experimental Medicine Unit Dr. Ruy Pérez Tamayo, Faculty of Medicine, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico
Thelma Rizo-Pica, Anatomic Pathology Service, Hospital General de México Dr. Eduardo Liceaga, Secretaría de Salud, Mexico City, Mexico
Marco E. Gudiño-Zayas, APADI Laboratory, Experimental Medicine Unit Dr. Ruy Pérez Tamayo, Faculty of Medicine, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico

The spirit of science is determined by the techniques which performs to generate knowledge. These techniques require instruments that can measure or compare natural or man-made phenomena as experimental models to be studied and deduce probable explanations for events. However, science not only generates knowledge through instruments but also generates the necessary and specific instruments (technology) to solve problems. The microscope has been of vital importance for the viability of knowledge since it has allowed the observation of cells, bacteria, parasites, fungi, and any number of species and specimens, to know, differentiate, and study them. Its origin may change as recent historical data can be found; however, there is enough material to be able to differentiate events that have contributed to the technological development of microscopy. However, not only has microscopy advanced but also the inclusion of digital systems and technology has made it possible to document ad libitum, microscopic observations, but not everything stops there, since software such as National Institutes of Health imageJ has also been generated, which allows us to make morphological comparisons or reconstructions, as well as quantifications. This manuscript does not pretend to be a timeline of the evolution of the microscope, but rather it is a historical review of episodes, which we consider to be of greater significance, which have made it possible to establish an inseparable link between these two products of science: microscope and imageJ, to assemble a powerful indispensable tool in the generation of knowledge in the life sciences.

Keywords: Microscope. Digital image analysis. National Institutes of Health imageJ software.