What do you see when looking at this object? Perhaps you see a lone microscope. But you have seen microscopes from a young age, so what makes this instrument any different? A detail is missing: what this microscope (which I call Mama for its motherly role) helped discover is what makes it stand out from other microscopes you have seen.

Thus begins the personal story of my fact.

A man has passed away; the man's microscope still exists. Both the man and his microscope made a lasting mark on society: each was an actor in establishing tumor angiogenesis, the growth of new blood vessels in tumors, as a medical fact. This exhibit is different because it portrays the personal story of tumor angiogenesis as a relationship between man and microscope, or human actor and non-human actor respectively, and their quest to defy the conventional theories of tumor growth of their time.

After having observed the exhibit, please read the essay “The Father and Mother of Angiogenesis: Warring against the Scientific Community.” You shall discover the life of Dr. Judah Folkman, who eventually earned the title of the “father of angiogenesis.” You shall discover also that in dire times Mama was Dr. Folkman's only supporter in his theory of tumor angiogenesis. Lastly you shall read that the relationship between Folkman and Mama is a telling example for the history of science: the human and non-human actor waged a war against their community, and through their relationship, we learn how both actors won that war.