Johan Sebastiaan Ploem

In 1963, Ploem was elected a Fulbright Fellow for study at the Harvard University School of Public Health, where he received a MPH Cum Laude in 1964.

[3] He obtained a Ph.D. degree in 1967 from the University of Amsterdam, titled Enkele methoden voor toxiciteitsonderzoek met behulp van weefselkweekcellen.

[6][7] Around 1962 Ploem started work in collaboration with Schott on the development of dichroic beam splitters for reflection of blue and green light for fluorescence microscopy using epi illumination.

Ploem's prototype fluorescence epi-illuminators and microscopes form a part of the permanent exposition of the Dutch National Museum for the history of Science and Medicine.

[10] The improvement is the addition of crossed polarizers and a so-called "anti-flex objective", the combination of which further reduces stray light in an IRM microscope, allowing even better interference contrast.

With his experience as an analogue painter, Ploem saw the possibility of also applying the methods of mathematical morphology to the creation of digital art.

[15] His first digital graphics of nature scenes were shown in his exposition at a regional art centre in the Pyrenees (Ossega, June 1997).