Microscope
date: label: date made
content: ca 1970
notes: label: Description
content: This is a simple, rugged and inexpensive white plastic instrument marked “Patent Applied For.” It uses prisms to fold the light path, and so can be small and portable. The cardboard box is marked “The Open University McArthur Microscope.” There are two glass slides.
label: Description
content: John McArthur (1901-1996) was a British physician who, while working in the tropics, identified the <i>Anopheles</i> mosquito that was causing malaria, and promoted ways to control its spread. McArthur noted that the microscope was conceived “for rural tropical medical work, but with schools in view, and the sudden demand for 8,000 microscopes by the Open University has pressed this design forward.” It won the Design Council Award and a Duke of Edinburgh prize (both in 1972). <i>Fortune</i> (1972) deemed it one of the best designs of the year.
label: Description
content: Ref: J. McArthur, “The McArthur Microscope—Open University Model,” <i>Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene</i> 65 (1972): 438.
label: Description
content: “Dr. John McArthur,” <i>The New Scientist</i> (Nov. 22, 1979): 312-314.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United Kingdom: England
topic: label: Subject
content: Science & Scientific Instruments
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Medicine
label: See more items in
content: Microscopes
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content: Science & Mathematics
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Oscar Richards
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1982.0336.02
label: accession number
content: 1982.0336
label: catalog number
content: 1982.0336.02
objectType: label: Object Name
content: microscope
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: plastic (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: case: 2 1/4 in x 8 11/16 in x 4 13/16 in; 5.715 cm x 22.06625 cm x 12.22375 cm
label: Measurements
content: microscope: 1 in x 5 in x 3 in; 2.54 cm x 12.7 cm x 7.62 cm