Friday, April 1, 2011

We just lost a giant.

Thomas Eisner died last friday.

If you have not read For Love of Insects, I highly suggest it. E.O Wilson called him a modern Jean Henri Fabre for good reason.

One note about the NY Times article: check out the black and white photo of Eisner at his scope. My advisor pointed out that it's a Wild M5, what many still consider is the ultimate stereo microscope for it's simplicity, durability and clarity of optics. I have one (not my own) at my lab bench, and I plan on purchasing one eventually. Production of these scopes ceased in the 1980s and Leica scopes (the company Wild Herrburg merged with) are just not the same quality. It's telling that great biologists such as Eisner used this very scope.

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