In the 1920’s, the maximum magnification of a research microscope was only 2,000 to 2,500 X, so he did what he’d been trained to do; he designed and built 5 new microscopes with a range of 5,000 to 50,000 X. Using his own instruments, he was the first person to photograph the heretofore invisible life forms that traveled in and out of view, alive and motile. He was known to sit for 48 hours at a time, peering into his microscope, bringing a specimen into sharp focus.
(Nobody had observed what they then called “filterable bacteria”, known now as viruses. They are so minute, they passed through that era’s finest filters. Even today, while most bacteria can easily be grown in external media, viruses …show more content…
Arthur Kendall, one of the top bacteriologists of the time, had been Director of the Hygienic Laboratory of the Panama Canal Commission in 1904, and the Hygienic Laboratory was the predecessor of the National Institute of Health. He became a professor at Harvard University Medical School and, by 1924, was a professor of Bacteriology and Public Health at Washington University in St. Louis.
While Rife was acquiring the technical skills and instruments he needed to isolate the cancer virus, Dr. Kendall was developing a protein culture medium for cultivation of the typhoid Bacillus. The typhoid Bacillus was usually large enough to be viewed through ordinary research microscopes of the time. However, when he used his Medium K, this bacterium changed into a form that was not visible or “non-filterable”. Then, it would morph back into a larger visible form again. Dr. Kendall’s K Medium served as a medium to grow the typhoid microorganism that was visible as a bacterium but invisible as a virus.
So, he needed a more powerful microscope. All the while, Rife had been building the powerful microscopes Kendall required, and Rife was the first person to photograph the heretofore invisible life forms Dr. Kendall was not yet able to …show more content…
It would appear to have been impeccable timing, since Rife and Timkin needed each other to move forward in their work. Timkin was a successful, wealthy manufacturer of roller bearings, but irregularities in the steel he used were causing his bearings to degrade. He was losing money.
So, Rife designed and built an x-ray machine for examining each roller bearing before it left the factory, saving Timkin’s company millions of dollars. Timkin was so impressed with Rife’s inventive genius, he provided him with a life-time monthly stipend.
At the same time, Mrs. Timkin had become gravely ill. Her health was rapidly deteriorating, and her doctors were stymied. Rife, the bacteriologist, believed her illness stemmed from something she was ingesting, so he systematically scoured her kitchen, searching for the microbe, and, using one of his high-power microscopes, he identified the bacteria in her spice cabinet that was responsible for her illness, and, when these bacteria were eradicated, she got