I was one told by a Nobel Laureate in Chemistry that light microscopy was simply a service foundation. By this he meant to class the microscope with computers, gas chromatographs, infrared spectrophotometers, x-ray diffractometers, mass spectrometers, etc. With all due respect to this gentleman and to these other instruments, there is a vital difference between the polarized light microscopes (PLM) and each of these instruments. First, a trained microscopist requires far more training than a qualified operator of, and interpreter of data from these other instruments. Second, there is considerably more basic physical and chemical information observable and measurable with PLM.
Study of the High Temperature Phase of 1,16-Hexadecanediol by Polarized Light Microscopy and Glancing Incidence X-Ray Diffraction