"Necessity is the Mother of Invention"

Microplates are also referred to as Multiwell plates and Microtiter ® plates, the latter being a registered trademark of the first company that commercialized the use of Microplates. The earliest Microplates were hand made and date back to 1954/55 in Hungary, where the need arose because of a severe Influenza out break. Dr. Gyola Takatsy needed to speed up the diagnostic testing of patients and the common test tube was too cumbersome and slow. These earliest Microplates were machined one at a time, with 100 wells (micro test tubes) in 10/10 rows.

The National Institute of Health in Maryland, USA was the research base from where the late Dr. John Sever designed the first 96 well plates. John Liner, Linbr Cooke and Nelson Cooke (Cooke Engineering) went to the market at about the same time in 1962/63.

Almost all Microplates are made from various plastics and polymers, while some of the new innovative plates incorporate optical grade glass, fiberglass matting, a range of filter membranes and specialty papers.

The next page contains a detailed history of Microplates and Plastics. This is updated annually, and your comments and critique are welcome. Write to editor@microplate.org

Click here for a detailed history of Microplates and Plastics