Abstract: A temperature controlled culture dish apparatus is disclosed. The apparatus consists of a culture dish assembly, a stage insert assembly, and a temperature controller. The culture dish assembly has a culture dish bottom which is manufactured from glass of high optical transmissivity coated with a transparent electrically conductive material. The biological specimen is grown directly on the culture dish bottom. The culture dish assembly is then placed into a recess in the stage insert assembly for microscopic examination. The biological specimen is not disrupted or transferred from the culture dish in which it was grown for purposes of examination. Power wires on the floor of the recess in the stage insert assembly contact bus bars on the transparent electrically conductive coating material. A thermistor on the floor of the recess in the stage insert assembly contacts the bottom of the culture dish bottom.