The compound microscope, which consists of at least two lenses, was invented in 1590 by Dutch spectacle-makers Zacharias and Hans Jansen. Over the course of the microscope’s history, technological innovations have made the microscope easier to use and have improved the quality of the images produced. This makes the object look bigger than it actually is. When light reflects off of an object being viewed under the microscope and passes through the lens, it bends towards the eye. A simple light microscope manipulates how light enters the eye using a convex lens, where both sides of the lens are curved outwards. It is through the microscope’s lenses that the image of an object can be magnified and observed in detail. While the modern microscope has many parts, the most important pieces are its lenses. Some microscopes can even be used to observe an object at the cellular level, allowing scientists to see the shape of a cell, its nucleus, mitochondria, and other organelles. A microscope is an instrument that is used to magnify small objects.