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Visualizing the Human Body:
From models and drawings, to ultrasound and video of fluorescing cells, visualization of medical information allows us to see inside ourselves. Changes in these techniques have altered our understanding of our bodies, moving from a general knowledge of its exterior form to seeing its smallest part. Scientists can now take photographs of minute structures and capture live action images of processes occurring within a single cell.
Discovering a New World:
The invention of the microscope opened the door to a previously unsuspected miniature universe. By the 1700s, natural philosophers realized that microscopic functions and structures played a major role in human physiology. Some argued that the human body could be conceived as groups of tiny machines working together toward a common purpose. Given our understanding of cell mechanics, this concept does not seem far-fetched. Over the centuries, continued improvements and innovations have produced increasingly powerful microscopes capable of peering inside individual cells and beyond. This Museum's microscope collection is named for Lt. Col. John Shaw Billings, early curator, founder of Index Medicus, influential medical scholar, and institution-builder. |