Antonie van leeuwenhoek microscope

Antonie van leeuwenhoek contribution to cell theory
Antonie van leeuwenhoek contribution to microbiology
Antonie van leeuwenhoek invention

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Antonie van Leeuwenhoek

Antonie Philips van Leeuwenhoek (24 October 1632 – 30 August 1723; last name pronounced 'Layvenhook') was a Dutchtradesman and scientist from Delft, Netherlands. He is best known for his work to improve the microscope.

Using his handcrafted microscopes, he was the first to see and describe single celledorganisms, which he originally referred to as animalcules, and which we now refer to as microorganisms. He was also the first to record microscopic observations of musclefibers, bacteria, spermatozoa and blood flow in small blood vessels. Van Leeuwenhoek did not write books, but sent letters to the Royal Society in London. The letters were published in the Royal Society's journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.

In his youth van Leeuwenhoek was apprenticed to a draper. Later, a civil service position allowed him to give time to his hobby: grinding lenses and using them to study tiny objects. His simple microscopes were skillfully ground, powerful single lenses capable of high image quality. He looked at protozoa in rainwater,

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Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (1632 - 1723)

Antony Van Leeuwenhoek, c.1675 ©Van Leeuwenhoek was a Dutch textile merchant who became a pioneer of microbiology.

Antonie van Leeuwenhoek was born in Delft on 24 October 1632. In 1648, van Leeuwenhoek was apprenticed to a textile merchant, which is where he probably first encountered magnifying glasses, which were used in the textile trade to count thread densities for quality control purposes. Aged 20, he returned to Delft and set himself up as a linen-draper. He prospered and was appointed chamberlain to the sheriffs of Delft in 1660, and becoming a surveyor nine years later.

In 1668, van Leeuwenhoek paid his first and only visit to London, where he probably saw a copy of Robert Hooke's 'Micrographia' (1665) which included pictures of textiles that would have been of interest to him. In 1673, he reported his first observations - bee mouthparts and stings, a human louse and a fungus - to the Royal Society. He was elected a member of the society in 1680 and continued his association for the rest of his life by correspondence.

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Antoni van Leeuwenhoek was born in Delft, the Netherlands, on 24 October 1632 to Margriet Jacobsdochter van den Berch and Philips Thooniszoon, both of whom were middle-class artisans. He attended grammar school in Warmond, and then temporarily moved to Benthuizen to live with relatives. Eventually Leeuwenhoek left for Amsterdam to work as a cloth merchant’s apprentice. Returning to Delft, he married Barbara de Mey on 29 July 1654, and worked as a shopkeeper. The marriage resulted in five children, only one of whom, Maria, outlived Leeuwenhoek.

In 1660 Leeuwenhoek left shopkeeping and became a civil servant as usher to the aldermen in Delft. That position led him to other civil occupations that resulted in greater financial reward, such as Chief Warden of the city and Wine-gauger. Meanwhile, Leeuwenhoek’s wife died in 1666 and in 1671 he married Cornelia Swalmius, the daughter of a Calvinist minister. Swalmius died in 1694 and their one child died in infancy.

In 1671 Leeuwenhoek also began his scientific career by assembling simple microscopes and magnifying glasses