'By the help of microscopes, there is nothing so small, as to escape our enquiry; hence there is a new visible world discovered to the understanding.'
Robert Hooke, Micrographia, 1665
Microscopes have been the most important tool in haematology research since the 1600s when Robert Hooke first demonstrated his pioneering studies to the Royal Society in London.
PNET MGG 63x 2
Credit: William R. Geddie. CC0 1.0 Universal
Over two hundred years later Dimitri Romanowski’s staining technique first made intracellular structures visible and Gustaaf Giemsa’s dye solution allowed reproducible staining of cells in microscopy – the method still used in laboratories today.
‘I was attracted to haematology from my very first undergraduate lecture. The fact that you could make many diagnoses from one drop of blood or bone marrow spread on the slide within minutes requiring only a microscope and a Giemsa stain’.
Eric Watts (Consultant Haematologist, Retired)