Dr. Joseph Mountin's Microscope

In 1946, Dr. Joseph W. Mountin envisioned the "Centers of Excellence" that turned a wartime malaria control effort into today's CDC. According to his memoirist, Hugh Leavell, "Mountin was recognized for his vision and his passion for facts. Never satisfied with the status quo, he sought the reason for things, and he kept asking what the people wanted done about their health. . . Because Mountin's views of health were so dynamic, he not infrequently trod on the toes of those content to look backward rather than forward" (Leavell, 1953, 19).

Dr. Mountin's grandson, Daniel Joseph Mountin, Jr., contacted CDC in 2001 about donating the microscope to the CDC. In an e-mail he stated, "Since I know you have an exhibit honoring my grandfather's legacy, I felt that the microscope belonged there, at the CDC Museum, rather than in a storage closet in my house." Dr. Mountin's children, Mr. Daniel Joseph Mountin, Sr., of Carrollton, Texas and Ms. Joan Hopke, of Naples, Florida, visited the CDC Museum with their spouses in 2002, and presented the microscope to CDC. It is currently on display in the David J. Sencer CDC Museum.