The $1 Paper Microscope, Foldscope

I came across Manu Prakash by reading a National Geographic piece about a microscope that costs $1 to make. It was the first time I had heard the phrase Frugal Science, and I was genuinely moved and genuinely surprised.

The vision is that any medical problem can be solved once we are able to look at it at the finest scale. It grew out of a childhood in which he had to draw microscopes without ever once using one, and in which he “wrecked” his older brother’s glasses; from that came his dream of bringing it to children who are poor.

And for my students’ Christmas presents I have chosen, every time, to support Foldscope.

Manu Prakash is an Indian scientist and a professor of bioengineering at Stanford University. He was born in Meerut, India. He is best known for his work on the Foldscope (a paper microscope) and the Paperfuge (a paper centrifuge).

Prakash received a MacArthur Fellowship in September 2016 (one of the most prestigious fellowships in the United States). His work centres on frugal innovation, on putting medicine, computing and microscopy within reach of many more people around the world.