Class VIII student makes portable microscope for Rs 10

Deepkamal Kaur

Tribune News Service

Phagwara, January 4

National award winning Class VIII student from Kolhapur in Maharashtra, Dnyaniraje V Suryanwanshi, who was here today to attend the opening of the Children Science Congress at Lovely Professional University, has developed a portable and easy to make microscope. It takes just one minute for anyone to make the gadget and costs just Rs 10-20.

“All one needs to have is a lens from waste laser pointer, a hair pin, a cello tape and a smart phone. The lens from waste laser pointer is taken and inserted in the gap of a hair pin, which is mounted in front of a mobile camera. The hand-held microscope of power 30-35x (same as that of an ordinary laboratory microscope) is ready. Ever since I have won the national award, my microscope design has become very popular in rural schools,” she said.

Describing the principle of her innovation, she said, “When a tiny object is placed within the focus of a convex lens, a virtual, erect and magnified image of the object is formed”.

“It can even help middle-aged people replace the use of spectacles with this lens for small reading. Watchmakers, goldsmiths and cloth merchants wanting to see texture of fibres of cloth and skin specialists checking diseases can all use my model of microscope,” she added.

A student of St Xavier’s High School, she said: “I won first prize at a district-level science contest last year, then went to the state level and finally won the national award under the theme ‘Innovation for sustainable development’ on November 26.”

Big feat 

• All one needs to have is a lens from waste laser pointer, a hair pin, a cello tape and a smart phone, said the Class VIII student. 
• The lens from waste laser pointer is taken and inserted in the gap of a hair pin, which is mounted in front of a mobile camera. 
• The hand-held microscope of power 30-35x (same as that of an ordinary laboratory microscope) is ready.