Illumination techniques utilized by contestants in the 4th annual Small World competition included polarized light, phase contrast, darkfield, fluorescence, interference contrast, Nomarski DIC, Hoffman modulation contrast, and Rheinberg illumination. Judges for the 1978 contest were Martin L. Scott (Eastman Kodak), Verlin Y. Yamamoto (U.S. Veterans Administration), Robert F. Smith (Cornell University), and John G. Delly (McCrone Associates).

1978 Contest Prize Winners

  • First Prize

    1st Prize - David Gnizak

    Independence, Ohio, USA
    Specimen: Gold, vaporized in a tungsten boat, in a vacuum evaporator (55x)
    Technique: Vertical Illumination - Normarski Differential Interference

  • Second Prize

    2nd Prize - Lynne Osman Elkin

    Hayward, California, USA
    Specimen: Thin section of a leaf of dicanthium annulatum (256x)
    Technique: Fluorescence Illumination using infrared film

  • Third Prize

    3rd Prize - John E. Turner

    Chicago, Illinois, USA
    Specimen: Tradescantia filament trichromes (45x)
    Technique: Phase Contrast, Darkfield Illumination

  • Fourth Prize

    4th Prize - James C. Carlisle

    Ithaca, New York, USA
    Specimen: Scale from silver dollar fish, with contracted guanophores and single-spread melanophore (1000x)
    Technique: Phase Contrast

  • Fifth Prize

    5th Prize - James Bell

    Allston, Massachusetts, USA
    Specimen: Resorcinol crystals (150x)
    Technique: Crossed Polarized Light Illumination

  • Sixth Prize

    6th Prize - Ralph Elston

    Ithaca, New York, USA
    Specimen: Fourteen-day-old American oyster larva stained with India Ink and eosin (400x)
    Technique: Interference Contrast

  • Seventh Prize

    7th Prize - Stephen Skirius

    Chicago, Illinois, USA
    Specimen: Fish scales of pomoxis annularis (80x)
    Technique: Hoffman Modulation Contrast with crossed Polarized Light Illumination

  • Eighth Prize

    8th Prize - Andre Gorzynski

    Buffalo, New York, USA
    Specimen: Photochemical bleach crystal (50x)
    Technique: Crossed Polarized Light Illumination

  • Ninth Prize

    9th Prize - Paul Kolsanoff

    San Francisco, California, USA
    Specimen: Kodak Ektamatic activator (100x)
    Technique: Polarized Light Illumination

  • Tenth Prize

    10th Prize - Stephen Skirius

    Chicago, Illinois, USA
    Specimen: Pigment in scale of large mouth bass (80x)
    Technique: Hoffman Modulation Contrast Technique, with Crossed Polarized Light

  • Eleventh Prize

    11th Prize - Susan E. Brown

    San Diego, California, USA
    Specimen: D19 stock solution crystals, 2 hours old (100x)
    Technique: Transmitted Light

  • Twelfth Prize

    12th Prize - John J. Kroll

    Livonia, Michigan, USA
    Specimen: Sodium chloride crystal in salt solution (100x)
    Technique: Rheinberg Illumination

  • Thirteenth Prize

    13th Prize - Paul Chapello

    Argonne, Illinois, USA
    Specimen: Crack propagation specimen (156x)
    Technique: Nomarski Differential Interference

  • Fourteenth Prize

    14th Prize - Stephen Skirius

    Chicago, Illinois, USA
    Specimen: Hexanitrodiphenylamine high-explosive crystals (35x)
    Technique: Crossed Polarized Light Illumination

  • Fifteenth Prize

    15th Prize - James Bell

    Allston, Massachusetts, USA
    Specimen: Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) crystals (125x)
    Technique: Crossed Polarized Light Illumination

  • Sixteenth Prize

    16th Prize - Lynne Osman Elkin

    Oakland, California, USA
    Specimen: Thin section of a corn leaf (320x)
    Technique: Fluorescence Illumination using infrared film

  • Seventeenth Prize

    17th Prize - William H. Love

    Berkeley California, USA
    Specimen: Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) crystals (20x)
    Technique: Hoffman Modulation Contrast with crossed Polarized Light, and full wave plate

  • Eighteenth Prize

    18th Prize - Brian D. Leavy

    Narragansett, Rhode Island, USA
    Specimen: Edge of clinopyroxene crystal in epoxy mount (50x)
    Technique: Crossed Polarized Light Illumination

  • Nineteenth Prize

    19th Prize - H.S. Baird

    Northridge, California, USA
    Specimen: Tongue of a fly (30x)
    Technique: 10x objective on 600-millimeter bellows - Rheinberg Illumination

  • Twentieth Prize

    20th Prize - Brian N. Ivanovic

    Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
    Specimen: Pupa of holly leaf miner, showing fully developed adult (20x)
    Technique: Darkfield Illumination

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