From the histophotometer to the confocal microscope: the evolution of analytical microscopy

With new ideas and with the aid of modern technology, novel microscopical and micro-analytical methods are practically implemented, as a fruit of the co-operative effect of theoretical and experimental advances achieved in distinct fields. The results obtained in the development of new micro-analytical instruments and in their applications, increasingly help to solve many investigative problems in materials science and in biology. Among the oldest forms of analytical microscopy, some encountered histophotometers while, among the latest, some are working with confocal microscopes. Given by one that had the opportunity of attending to both of the developments, an overview encompassing these two instruments can hopefully serve to illustrate the progress of analytical microscopy, a discipline evolving during the second half of this century.