Visible Science

みる科学(Visible Science)

This exhibit introduces how optical microscopes, electron microscopes and ultra-high voltage electron microscopes work, as well as technology for elucidating structures of molecules smaller than cells, such as X-ray structural analysis, and segments of research that utilize these technologies.

Japan’s first electron microscope

(National Museum of Nature and Science, Essential Historical Material for Science and Technology No. 00092–2011)

Japan’s research on electron microscopes was started by Eizi Sugata in 1934, just after its invention in Germany. The research went underway with the prototyping of an emission-type electron microscope, and the first Japanese electron microscope was constructed in 1939. This apparatus is highly valued as a historical material of science & technology, and is the foundation for Japan’s preeminent electron microscope research.

Laboratory of Applied Pharmacognosy: Research of Ogata Koan’s medicine chest

Two of Ogata Koan’s medicine chests are preserved in Osaka University. The first medicine chest he used in the late middle age mainly contained crude drugs, while the second medicine chest used in his later life contained pharmaceutical products (liquid medicine in glass vials, and so on). By comparing and analyzing the other medical inheritances of the University (herbal medicine specimens and ancient documents), identification of the contents is being conducted alongside research that aims to elucidate Koan’s treatment strategies.