A microscope is an optical instrument that can be used for magnification. It's often made up of multiple parts, including:

• optics (lens, focus, calibration)
• a camera
• a lighting system
• a moving stage to hold slides

Not all are necessary to view something microscopic!

Basic Microscope Kit

While there are lots of different microscopes -- both commercial and open source (see below) -- we're highlighting an introductory-level Do-It-Yourself microscope kit that's a good place to start:

Basic Microscope Kit -- prototyping kit now available for pre-order in the Public Lab store

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Microscope projects

What kinds of microscope are available, both Do-It-Yourself ones and commercially available ones? We've posted this question here, and are keeping a comparison table below.

See and edit the full spreadsheet here

Questions

Questions can be either frequently asked questions, or "next step" challenges we're looking to solve.

Activities

Activities show how to use this project, step by step.

Updates