Compound microscope

In the nineteenth century, the microscope was improved many times. Many of these improvements are implemented in this microscope. So it can be applied in many situations. The instrument was made by the firm of George Merz and his son Sigmund, established in Munich. Merz had taken over the company from the physicist Joseph von Fraunhofer. Fraunhofer was very adept at making microscopes and he was an authority in the field of optics and light. After his death in 1839 Fraunhofer's knowledge was broadened further by Merz. In 1865 the microscopes of Merz, together with the instruments of Edmund Hartnack, achieved a resolution that was unrivalled at that time. The foot shaped like a horseshoe is a construction of Georges Oberhäuser from 1848. The construction was soon taken up by German instrument makers and it has been maintained in the development of the modern microscope.