Always nice to see an article getting published. This time a piece in the Balsam Post, which is the newsletter of the Postal Microscopical Society. The article is on a set of aluminium coated diatom slides that the society has, and I looked at them with visible light and with 365nm UV using my UV microscope.

While I spend a lot of time working, it is nice to occasionally take a break and look at other samples using the equipment I’ve built. The quest for improved resolution in microscopy led me to looking and metal and metal oxide coatings for samples, and this resulted in me looking at the work of Horace Dall (who I have also written about before – here) and John Dale. The Postal Microscopical Society had a set of diatom slides by John Dale which had been coated in aluminium, so I requested those and offered to write a short article for their newsletter on what I found.

Organizations such as the Postal Microscopical Society and the Quekett Microscopical Club should not be overlooked when it comes to research. While not all the members will be actively involved in scientific research the collective knowledge of members is enormous, especially when it comes to historical work. I can do nothing but recommend anyone interested in microscopy look to join these groups. Giving something back by writing the occasional article is my way of saying thank you, and provides work which will hopefully be of help to others in the future.

As always, thanks for reading, and if you’d like to know more about my work, please feel free to contact me.