The achievements of Frits Zernike, his pioneering work with Carl Zeiss, and his early recognition by the Royal Microscopical Society commemorated at joint RMS/Carl Zeiss meeting
Scientists from around the world gathered in London recently to celebrate a half-century of achievement in cell biology and look at future techniques for live cell research.
The occasion was the 50th anniversary of the award of the Nobel Prize to Dutch scientist, Frits Zernike, for his discovery of the phase contrast method and the invention of the phase contrast microscope.
The meeting was jointly sponsored by Carl Zeiss, which built the first phase contrast microscope in 1936 and pioneered live cell applications throughout the period until 1945, and the Royal Microscopical Society, the first learned body to recognise the significance of Zernike's work.
Held at the Institute of Physics in London, the meeting featured a keynote lecture by Nobel laureate Tim Hunt.
Heinz Gundlach of Carl Zeiss Germany also addressed the meeting about the development effort involved in translating the phase contrast principle into a working instrument.
The highlight of his presentation was a world debut of a DVD of the first cine film of a dividing cell from 1941.
As well as looking at how Zernike made it possible to see living cells, the meeting looked at new imaging techniques that are further advancing live cell research.
These included enhanced phase contrast presented by Alexander Verkhovsky, SFIT, Lausanne, single molecule TIRF microscopy presented by Justin Molloy, NIMR, London, and tracking intracellular molecules with Flap microscopy presented by Graham Dunn, KCL, London.
