HIDDEN WORLDS
Looking Through a Scientist's Microscope
by STEPHEN KRAMER
A Scientist at Work
Dennis Kunkel didn't know what he wanted to be when he grew up. He always had a love for the outdoors and nature, but he could never imagine becoming a scientist. This novel Hidden Worlds, by Stephen Kramer, explains how his love love for science and microscopes came to be.
Dennis' passion was first discovered when he was 10. On Christmas when he opened one of his gifts, he found a microscope with prepared slides. He instantly became intrigued with discovering and examining microscopic organisms. This passion soon became his hobby, and his hobby a career.
From then on, he studied biology in labs and graduated college. Besides that, he's worked with colleagues, students becoming scientists, and his wife in observing both living and dead specimens under several different microscopes. He finds new organisms in the biological world as well, but most importantly, he discovers hidden worlds of nature.
HIDDEN WORLDS
DENNIS KUNKEL
DUST MITE
Helping Others
Aside from working in the field to study specimens, he also works with young college scientists and even younger children who want to become scientists. His work in nature and with others are very similar. For example, in both, Dennis enjoys helping others and being helped by others. These two tasks are also learning experiences for him. While working outdoors, he discovers new life never seen before and studies it to find out more. When he works with younger scientists, he finds himself taking in new information from them and making new discoveries with their help. Both working with others and outdoors are a crucial part of Dennis's life because they help him get an even greater sense of biology.
KEY TERMS
SEM -- scanning electron microscopes that make images of an object using a focused beam of electrons and scanning it
- TEM -- transmission electron microscopes used as a way of transmitting a beam of electrons through an ultra-thin organism
- Confocal Microscope -- using a laser light, this microscope scans a specimen and places it on a screen for analyzing