1704-1772

1750-1795

English engineers who were famous for designing microscopes. One type of microscope they produced had interchangeable parts so that it could be easily converted from a simple microscope (containing one lens) to a compound microscope (containing more than one lens). They were commissioned to produce a collection of scientific instruments for England's King George III, including a microscope made from silver. In 1746, Adams Sr. published Micrographia Illustrata, a popular work about microscopes, and in 1787, his son published Essays on the Microscope.