Microscopical Society of Southern California
News & Events

The History of the Microscope
Dibner Hall, Huntington Library, Pasadena, CA

A permanent exhibition showcasing some of science's greatest achievements, from Ptolemy to Copernicus, Newton to Einstein, opened November 1, 2008 at the Huntington Library in Pasadena, CA. See http://www.huntington.org/Information/dibnerhall.htm

       
The College of Microscopy is offering another Microscopy Workshop for High School and Middle School Science Teachers (course COM900) taking place this summer, June 21st-25th, 2010 at their campus in Westmont, IL (a suburb of Chicago in the USA).

The workshop highlights bringing microscopy into the classroom through a simple magnifier,
stereomicroscope, and compound microscope.  Basics of microscopy are explained along with
demonstrations of 50+ experiments that the teachers can take directly back to their classroom.  In
addition, each participant receives a Motic compound digital microscope with a built-in digital camera
and archiving software (a $500 value). Using a laptop computer the teachers can lecture and project their demonstrations to their classes directly through the microscope.  The teachers will also receive a book of experiments, specifically for the Motic microscope, written by John Gustav Delly, Scientific Advisor to The McCrone Group, Inc. The experiments can easily be applied to other brands of microscopes, as well. Aside from the basics of microscopy and the experiments demonstrated, a wide variety of topics including: micro-chemical reactions, materials analysis, forensic trace evidence, and biology.  The registration fee for this week long workshop is $150 and includes the free digital microscope. The course is recognized by the Illinois Department of Education and carries 38 Illinois Continuing Professional Development Units. As an option, students completing the course can apply for 3 graduate credits through Concordia University Chicago, at $200/ credit hour.

Click here for further information.

Petr's Microscopy Resources list of international meetings for microscopists
See www.petr.isibrno.cz/microscopy/meetings.php

Olympus Bioscapes Digital Imaging Competition (annual)
Deadline for entries for the 2010 competition is September 30, 2010.

Submit up to five images and/or digital video clips to this competition, which will honor extraordinary microscope images of life science subjects. Submit entries by uploading them to the Olympus web servers, see http://www.olympusbioscapes.com/index.html First prize is a choice of Olympus products valued at $5,000. Nine additional winners will also
receive valuable prizes from Olympus. You do not need to be a user of Olympus equipment.

Help with Mayo Brothers Research

An old friend of the MSSC, Kevin Bennet has been asked by Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN (where he holds a high level technical position) to research the Mayo Brothers' use of the microscope for early pathology uses....with the goal of making a historical display for the Clinic's welcome center here in Rochester. If you have any information to help further this research, please e-mail the MSSC webmaster.