The mysterious microscope from Jena
Catherine Buckland
In the back of a cupboard at the Imaging Physics department of the Faculty of Applied Sciences (TNW) at TU Delft, a box full of interesting objects had hiding for almost thirty years. Nestled amongst prisms and scopes, was a mysterious microscope. Most of the objects dated from the mid-20th century, but this microscope looked older - much older! What happened and how did it end up in a closet at TNW? Team Maatwerk from TU Delft went to investigate. Read the whole story.
What’s in the box?
A tiny brass microscope mounted on a wooden box, with the maker's name “Carl Zeiss” inscribed on the top with a mysterious number “417”. It certainly didn't look like anything that Zeiss might have produced in the past century.
The box was locked and the key long-lost, but a handy note said that it could be opened “with a letter opener” (the team used a screwdriver). Inside was lined with blue velvet and held a number of different lenses and a tiny magnifying glass.
There were also folded documents in the box, written in German fraktur. One was a printed letter of recommendation from botanist MJ Schleiden dated 1857, assuring us that “for the connoisseur, the work of Herr Zeiss does not require the recommendation of a third party”. The team Maatwerk of the TU Delft Library also found the original manual, which identified it as an “Einfachen mikroskop” (‘Basic microscope’) with handwritten notes on how to clean the glass.
Experts
It was time to consult the experts. Luckily, Zeiss has its own archive, having digitalised all records of client purchases made before 1890, which fit the 1857 dating from the Schleiden letter. Upon checking their purchase lists, it became clear that the “417” inscription referred to the fact that it was the four-hundred-and-seventeenth microscope ever made by Zeiss. For reference, the first microscope was sold just 13 years earlier, meaning that it dated from the first two decades of Zeiss history.
Nach Holland
The records uncovered further mysteries. Microscope number 417 was sold in 1857 to a “Herr H. Tromsdorff” from Erfurt. This is Christian Wilhelm Hermann Trommsdorff - son of Johann Bartholomäus Trommsdorff, the noted chemist- who owned a chemical factory in Erfurt. So far so simple- it made perfect sense for a nearby manufacturer (Jena is only 50km from Erfurt) to need a Zeiss microscope. But in the notes for the sale, it reads “nach Holland” (‘to Holland’). What could this mean? And did this mean that this microscope has been at TU Delft for much longer than we anticipated?
The team has been in contact with the archivists at the Zeiss archives, who- as yet- have not been able to find anything to conclusively link or explain why this microscope was bought by Trommsdorff “nach Holland” in 1857. However, the team has their own theories.
Theories
There was communication between Delft and Trommsdorf: : the Delft manufacturers Kipp & Sons visited Trommsdorff in 1846. There is no way of knowing if they brought anything back with them (and it is ten years too early for this microscope) but it is certainly possible that instruments were passing between Germany and the Netherlands. In any case, it provides a stronger link with Delft: given that this microscope was bound for Holland, it increases the probability that Delft was the intended destination.
If we assume the microscope was intended for Kipp & Sons, either through a direct purchase or gift, that means that it has been in Delft since the late 1850s. But how did it get into a cupboard at TNW, more than 150 years later? For possible answers there, further digging into TU Delft history was required. It turns out that an advisor to Salm & Kipp (as Kipp & Sons became), Tidde Westerdijk, had a son- Jan Berend Westerdijk- who became a lecturer at the TU Delft in the early 1950s. There is a book with "T. Westerdijk” written on the flyleaf in the Imaging Physics library of TNW, meaning Westerdijk donated at least one item to the collection. Is it not possible- indeed, likely- that the microscope also came to the TU Delft via one of these Westerdijks? And from there, to team Maatwerk?
Of course, until documentation is found, this can only be pure speculation. This is only the beginning of the story, not the end. But the possibility that this microscope has been in Delft for so long is an exciting one!
Programme Tailor-Made Approach to Faculty collections / Maatwerk Facultaire CollectiesThe faculties at the TU Delft have rich and varied historical collections that reflect the development of the university, technical research and education in general. The Programme Tailor-Made Approach to Faculty collections aims to catalog, make accessible, and promote the use of these collections for teaching, research, and presentations. More information can be found here: https://intranet.tudelft.nl/en/group/guest/-/programma-maatwerk-facultaire-collecties?
Remaining questions: Charlotte de Kort-Holtgrefe, communication manager TNW, c.g.w.dekort@tudelft.nl, 06-14015135