Description
About the stamp design: 20 different photographs taken with special techniques using microscopes. Each design includes the name of the specimen shown.
First Day City: First Day of Issue Ceremony was held in Cleveland, Ohio, at The Great American Stamp Show.
History the stamp represents: Microscopes have been around for 4,000 years and were named from the Greek words for “small” and “to look at, examine, or inspect.” These tools have come a long way since then, allowing scientists to make countless discoveries by looking at objects and organisms invisible to the naked eye. These include understanding viruses and bacteria, fungi, tiny structures within larger creatures, and more. While the medical field has benefited greatly from microscopes, so have robotics, engineering, and more.
While microscopy once relied on simple tools such as compound microscopes, scientists today use complex models such as scanning electron microscopes. Rather than simply “zoom in” on the object in front of the lens, a scanning electron microscope fires a beam of electrons at the sample. The signals produced by the electrons as they interact with the sample are what produce the image. These microscopes allow scientists to see beyond what a powerful lens could ever reveal.
In 2023, the US Postal Service issued a set of 20 Life Magnified Forever stamps picturing “details of life undetectable by the human eye.” Each one included many colors that both highlighted the different structures shown as well as made the designs more artistic and pleasing to the eye. The images were captured using powerful microscopes and specialized photographic techniques. These designs prove that, like stamps, science can be beautiful as well as educational.
5 sheets of 100 First-Class Forever® USPS postage stamps. *The slash over “Forever” in the image is to protect it from being used to produce counterfeit postage. Actual stamps will not have this.
