Antonie Philips van Leeuwenhoek (in
DutchDutch is a West Germanic language spoken by over 22 million people as a native language, and over 5 million people as a second language.
"1% of the EU population claims to speak Dutch well enough in order to have a conversation." Outside the European Union the number of second language...
also Anthonie, Antoni, or Theunis, in
EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United States since the mid 20th century,...
, Antony or Anton) (born on October 24, 1632 – baptized on November 4, and died on August 26, 1723 – buried on August 30) was a
DutchThe Netherlands is a country in Northwestern Europe, constituting the major portion of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east...
tradesman and
scientistA scientist, in the broadest sense, is any person who engages in a systematic activity to acquire knowledge or an individual that engages in such practices and traditions that are linked to schools of thought or philosophy. In a more restricted sense, a scientist is an individual who uses the...
from
DelftSee also: Delft, Cape Town, Delft IslandDelft is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland , the Netherlands...
, the
NetherlandsThe Netherlands is a country in Northwestern Europe, constituting the major portion of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east...
. He is commonly known as "
the Father of MicrobiologyThose known as the father, mother, or considered the founder of a scientific field are the scientists who have made important contributions to that field...
", and considered to be the first
microbiologistA microbiologist is a scientist who works in the field of microbiology. Microbiologists study organisms called microbes. Microbes can take the form of bacteria, viruses, fungi, and protists...
. He is best known for his work on the improvement of the
microscopeA microscope is an instrument to see objects too tiny for the naked eye. The science of investigating small objects using such an instrument is called microscopy. Microscopic means invisible to the eye unless aided by a microscope.-History:An early microscope was made in 1590 in Middelburg, The...
and for his contributions towards the establishment of
microbiologyMicrobiology is the study of microorganisms, which are unicellular or cell-cluster microscopic organisms. This includes eukaryotes such as fungi and protists, and prokaryotes. Viruses, though not strictly classed as living organisms, are also studied...
. Using his handcrafted microscopes he was the first to observe and describe single celled organisms, 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
muscleMuscle is the contractile tissue of the body and is derived from the mesodermal layer of embryonic germ cells. Muscle cells contain contractile filaments that move past each other and change the size of the cell. They are classified as skeletal, cardiac, or smooth muscles. Their function is to...
fibers, bacteria,
spermatozoaA sperm, from the ancient Greek word σπέρμα and and more commonly known as a sperm cell, is the haploid cell that is the male gamete. It joins an ovum to form a zygote. A zygote is a single cell, with a complete set of chromosomes, that normally develops into an embryo.Sperm cells contribute...
and
bloodBlood is a specialized bodily fluid that delivers necessary substances to the body's cells — such as nutrients and oxygen — and transports waste products away from those same cells....
flow in
capillariesCapillaries are the smallest of a body's blood vessels and are part of the microcirculation. They are only 1 cell thick. These microvessels, measuring 5-10 μm in diameter, connect arterioles and venules, and enable the exchange of water, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and many other nutrient and waste...
(small
blood vesselThe blood vessels are the part of the circulatory system that transport blood throughout the body. There are three major types of blood vessels: the arteries, which carry the blood away from the heart, the capillaries, which enable the actual exchange of water and chemicals between the blood and...
s). Van Leeuwenhoek never wrote books, just letters.
Life
Antonie van Leeuwenhoek was born in
DelftSee also: Delft, Cape Town, Delft IslandDelft is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland , the Netherlands...
, the Netherlands, on October 24, 1632. He was the son of the basket maker Philip Thonisz and Grietje Jacobs van den Berch. The Leeuwenhoeks lived in a comfortable brick house on Leeuwenpoort Street. Before his sixth birthday two of his younger sisters and his father had died, and his mother was left with five young children. About three years later she married Jacob Molijn and Antonie van Leeuwenhoek was sent to boarding school in the village of
WarmondWarmond is a village and former municipality in the western Netherlands, north of Leiden in the province of South Holland. The municipality covered an area of 14.42 km² of which 4.42 km² is water, and had a population of 4,977 in 2004. Together with Sassenheim and Voorhout, it became...
, near
LeidenLeiden is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland in the Netherlands and has 118,000 inhabitants. It forms a single urban area with Oegstgeest, Leiderdorp, Voorschoten, Valkenburg, Rijnsburg and Katwijk, with 254,000 inhabitants. It is located on the Old Rhine, close to the cities...
. Soon after he was invited by an uncle to live with him in
BenthuizenBenthuizen is a village in the Dutch province of South Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Rijnwoude, and lies about 4 km east of Zoetermeer.In 2001, the town of Benthuizen had 3215 inhabitants...
, a village northeast of Delft. At age 16, his stepfather died and his mother decided it was time for Antonie to learn a trade. He secured an apprenticeship with a Scottish
cloth merchantCloth merchant is, strictly speaking, like a draper, the term for any vendor of cloth. However, it is generally used for one who owned and/or ran a cloth manufacturing and/or wholesale import and/or export business in the Middle Ages or 16th and 17th centuries...
in Amsterdam as a bookkeeper and casher. In 1653, Van Leeuwenhoek saw his first simple microscope, a
magnifying glassA magnifying glass is a convex lens which is used to produce a magnified image of an object. The lens is usually mounted in a frame with a handle ....
mounted on a small stand used by textile merchants, capable of magnifying to a power of 3. He soon acquired one for his own use. In 1654, he left Amsterdam, moved back to Delft for the rest of his life and started his own lucrative
draperyDrapery is a general word refering to cloths or textiles . It may refer to cloth used for decorative purposes - such as around windows - or to the trade of retailing cloth, originally mostly for clothing, formerly conducted by drapers...
business there. On July 11, he married Barbara de Mey, the daughter of a cloth merchant and settled as a linen-draper. He was registered as Anthoni Leeuwenhouck. Four out of his five children died young. In 1660, he was appointed chamberlain of the
Lord Regents of DelftA schepen is a Dutch word referring to a municipal civic office in Dutch-speaking countries. The term is still in use in Belgium, but it has been replaced by wethouder in the Netherlands. The closest English terms are alderman, member of the municipal executive, councillor and magistrate,...
. In 1666 his wife died and in 1671 he married Cornelia Swalmius, the daughter of a minister. Van Leeuwenhoek outlived his second wife, who died in 1694.
Antonie van Leeuwenhoek did not learn Latin, or attend university, but in 1669 he obtained a degree in
surveyingSurveying or land surveying is the technique and science of accurately determining the terrestrial or three-dimensional space position of points and the distances and angles between them...
; it is possible he was involved in Subdivision Plans for the city of Delft. Demonstrable is his appointment in 1676 as a
bailiffA bailiff is a governor or custodian ; a legal officer to whom some degree of authority, care or jurisdiction is committed...
. In 1679 he got a post as a gauger, an inspector of wine and beer at the local publicans, who were heavily taxed for the amount that was sold. Obviously the
burgomasterBurgomaster is the English form, rendering various terms in or derived from the German language word for the chief magistrate and/or chairman of the executive council of a sub-national level of administration All contemporary titles...
s gave Van Leeuwenhoek cushy jobs, usually called
sinecureA sinecure means an office which requires or involves little or no responsibility, labour, or active service...
s, as Antonie was a reliable and smart man.
Early involvement with the microscope
Van Leeuwenhoek's interest in microscopes and a familiarity with glass processing led to one of the most significant, and simultaneously well-hidden, technical insights in the history of science. By placing the middle of a small rod of soda lime glass in a hot flame, Van Leeuwenhoek could pull the hot section apart like taffy to create two long whiskers of glass. By then reinserting the end of one whisker into the flame, he could create a very small, high-quality glass sphere. These spheres became the lenses of his microscopes, with the smallest spheres providing the highest magnifications. An experienced businessman, Leeuwenhoek realized that if his simple method for creating the critically important lens was revealed, the scientific community of his time would likely disregard or even forget his role in microscopy. He therefore allowed others to believe that he was laboriously spending most of his nights and free time grinding increasingly tiny lenses to use in microscopes, even though this belief conflicted both with his construction of hundreds of microscopes and his habit of building a new microscope whenever he chanced upon an interesting specimen that he wanted to preserve.
Van Leeuwenhoek used samples and measurements to estimate numbers of microorganisms in units of water. Van Leeuwenhoek made good use of the huge lead provided by his method. He studied a broad range of microscopic phenomena, and shared the resulting observations freely with groups such as the English
Royal SocietyThe Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, or even the Royal, is a learned society for science that was founded in 1660 and is considered by most to be the oldest such society still in existence...
. Such work firmly established his place in history as one of the first and most important explorers of the microscopic world.
Eventual recognition by the English Royal Society
After developing his method for creating powerful lenses and applying them to a thorough study of the microscopic world, Van Leeuwenhoek was introduced via correspondence to the English
Royal SocietyThe Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, or even the Royal, is a learned society for science that was founded in 1660 and is considered by most to be the oldest such society still in existence...
by the famous Dutch
PhysicianA physician — also known as medical practitioner, doctor of medicine, medical doctor, or simply doctor — practices the ancient profession of medicine, which is concerned with maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease or injury...
Reinier de GraafRegnier de Graaf was a Dutch physician and anatomist who made key discoveries in reproductive biology. His first name is often spelled Reinier or Reynier.-Biography:...
. He soon began to send copies of his recorded microscopic observations to the Royal Society. In 1673 his earliest observations were published by the Royal Society in its journal: Philosophical Transactions. Amongst these published observations were Van Leeuwenhoek's accounts of
bee mouthparts and stings.
Despite the initial success of Van Leeuwenhoek's relationship with the Royal Society, this relationship was soon severely strained. In 1676 his credibility was questioned when he sent the Royal Society a copy of his first observations of microscopic single-celled organisms. Previously, the existence of single-celled organisms was entirely unknown. Thus, even with his established reputation with the Royal Society as a reliable observer, his observations of microscopic life were initially met with skepticism. Eventually, in the face of Van Leeuwenhoek's insistence, the Royal Society arranged to send an English vicar, as well as a team of respected jurists and doctors, to Delft, to determine whether it was in fact Van Leeuwenhoek's ability to observe and reason clearly, or perhaps the Royal Society's theories of life itself that might require reform. Finally in 1680, Van Leeuwenhoek's observations were fully vindicated by the Society.
Van Leeuwenhoek's vindication resulted in his appointment as a Fellow of the Royal Society in that year. After his appointment to the Society, he wrote approximately 560 letters to the Society and other scientific institutions over a period of 50 years. These letters dealt with the subjects he had investigated. Even when dying, Van Leeuwenhoek kept sending letters full of observations to London. The last few also contained a precise description of his own illness. He suffered from a rare disease, an uncontrolled movement of the
midriffIn the human body, the midriff is the section of the body between the chest and the waist, i.e. the diaphragm area. Its main outside anatomical feature is the navel. "Midriff" is often misspelled "mid-drift" or "midrift"....
, which is now named
Van Leeuwenhoek's disease. He died at the age of 90, on August 26, 1723 and was buried four days later in the
Oude Kerk (Delft)The Oude Kerk , nicknamed Oude Jan , is a Gothic church in the old city center of Delft, the Netherlands. Its most recognizable feature is a 75-meter-high brick tower that leans about two meters from the vertical.-History:...
.
In 1981 the British microscopist
Brian J. FordBrian J. Ford is an independent research biologist, author, and lecturer, who publishes on scientific issues for the general public...
found that Van Leeuwenhoek's original specimens had survived in the collections of the Royal Society of London. They were found to be of high quality, and were all well preserved. Ford carried out observations with a range of microscopes, adding to our knowledge of Van Leeuwenhoek's work.
Discoveries
During his lifetime Van Leeuwenhoek ground over 500 optical lenses. He also created over 400 different types of microscopes, only nine of which still exist today. His microscopes were made of silver or copper metal frames holding hand-ground lenses. Those that have survived the years are able to magnify up to 275 times. It is suspected, though, that Van Leeuwenhoek possessed some microscopes that could magnify up to 500 times. Although he has been widely regarded as a dilettante or amateur, his scientific research was of remarkably high quality.
Van Leeuwenhoek's main discoveries are:
- the infusoria
Infusoria is a collective term for minute aquatic creatures like ciliates, euglenoids, protozoa, and unicellular algae that exist in freshwater ponds...
(protistProtists , are a diverse group of eukaryotic microorganisms. Historically, protists were treated as the kingdom Protista but this group is no longer recognized in modern taxonomy...
s in modern zoologicalZoology, also spelled zoölogy, is the branch of biology that focuses on the structure, function, behavior, and evolution of animals. The zoologist's pronunciation of "zoology" is , though a common spelling pronunciation is .-Systems of classification:...
classification), in 1674
- the bacteria
The bacteria are a large group of unicellular microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria have a wide range of shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals...
, (e.g. large SelenomonadThe genus Selenomonas constitutes a group of motile crescent-shaped bacteria within the Veillonellaceae family and include species living in the gastrointestinal tracts of animals, in particular, the Ruminants....
s from the human mouth), in 1676
- the spermatozoa
A sperm, from the ancient Greek word σπέρμα and and more commonly known as a sperm cell, is the haploid cell that is the male gamete. It joins an ovum to form a zygote. A zygote is a single cell, with a complete set of chromosomes, that normally develops into an embryo.Sperm cells contribute...
in 1677. Van Leeuwenhoek had troubles with Dutch theologists about his practice.
- the banded pattern of muscular fibers
Muscle is the contractile tissue of the body and is derived from the mesodermal layer of embryonic germ cells. Muscle cells contain contractile filaments that move past each other and change the size of the cell. They are classified as skeletal, cardiac, or smooth muscles. Their function is to...
, in 1682.
In 1687 he reported his research on the
coffee beanA coffee bean is the seed of the coffee plant . The fruits, coffee cherries or coffee berries, most commonly contain two stones with their flat sides together. Coffee beans consist mostly of endosperm that contains 0.8 - 2.5 % caffeine, which is one of the main reasons the plants are cultivated...
. He roasted the bean, cut it into slices and saw a spongeous inside, he had never seen before. The bean was pressed, and then an oil appeared. He boiled the coffee with rain water twice, set it aside (and probably drank it slowly).
He was visited by Leibniz, William III of Orange and his wife, the Amsterdam burgomaster
Johan HuydecoperJoan Huydecoper van Maarsseveen II was the eldest son of burgomaster Joan Huydecoper van Maarsseveen I and the brother-in-law of the collector Jan J. Hinlopen and the sheriff Jacob Boreel. He was mayor of Amsterdam for 13 terms between 1673 and 1693...
, the latter very interested in collecting and growing plants for the Hortus Botanicus Amsterdam and all gazed at the
tiny creatures.
Nicolaes WitsenNicolaas or Nicolaes Witsen was a Dutch diplomat, cartographer, maritime writer, and thirteen times mayor of Amsterdam between 1682-1706. Furthermore, he was a representative to the States-General, in 1693 administrator of the VOC and extraordinary-ambassador to the English court...
sent him a map of
TartariaSăliştea , known as Cioara until 1965, is a commune located in the Alba county, Romania. The old name of Cioara is still widely used especially by the local residents....
and a
mineralA mineral is a naturally occurring solid formed through geological processes that has a characteristic chemical composition, a highly ordered atomic structure, and specific physical properties. A rock, by comparison, is an aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids, and need not have a specific...
found near the origin of the river Amur. In 1698 Van Leeuwenhoek was invited in the boat of tsar Peter the Great, who went off to Delft, curiously. On the occasion Van Leeuwenhoek presented the tsar an "eel-viewer", so Peter could study the blood circulation, whenever he wanted.
Lenses secret
With skills, however, Van Leeuwenhoek maintained throughout his life that there were aspects of their construction "
which I only keep for myself", including in particular his most critical secret of how he created lenses. For a long time nobody could reconstruct Van Leeuwenhoek's know-how. But in the 1950s, C.L. Stong used thin glass thread fusing instead of polishing, and successfully created some working samples of a Leeuwenhoek design microscope. Such a method was also discovered independently by A.Mosolov and A.Belkin in the
Novosibirsk State Medical InstituteNovosibirsk State Medical Academy - a medical academy in Novosibirsk, Russia for training qualified doctors.It was organized in 1935 when the medical faculty was opened. Until 1999 it was known as the Novosibirsk medical institute. From 2005 it is the Novosibirsk medical academy. From 1996 to...
.
Religious interpretations of Van Leeuwenhoek's discoveries
Van Leeuwenhoek was a Dutch Reformed
CalvinistCalvinism is a theological system and an approach to the Christian life...
. He often referred with reverence to the wonders God designed in making creatures great and small. He believed that his amazing discoveries were merely further proof of the great wonder of God's creation.
Van Leeuwenhoek's discoveries of how smaller organisms procreate just as larger organisms do, did eventually overturn the traditional belief of the time in the
spontaneous generationSpontaneous generation or Equivocal generation is an obsolete theory regarding the origin of life from inanimate matter, which held that this process was a commonplace and everyday occurrence, as distinguished from univocal generation, or reproduction from parent...
of such organisms. This belief was generally held by the 17th century scientific community, and was also tacitly endorsed by the 17th century Church. Still, the Church's position on the exact nature of the spontaneous generation of smaller organisms was ambivalent. Possibly because Van Leeuwenhoek's discoveries of microscopic life appeared at the time to pose no direct challenge to any Church doctrines such as the doctrine of
creationismCreationism refers to the religious belief that humanity, life, the Earth, and the universe were created in some form by a supernatural being or beings, commonly a single deity...
, the Church made no effort to challenge or question any of Van Leeuwenhoek's discoveries in any way.
Possible Vermeer connection
Van Leeuwenhoek was a contemporary of another famous Delft citizen, painter
Johannes VermeerJohannes, Jan or Johan Vermeer was a Dutch Baroque painter who specialized in exquisite, domestic interior scenes of middle class life. Vermeer was a moderately successful provincial genre painter in his lifetime...
, who was baptized just four days earlier. It has been suggested that he is the man portrayed in two of Vermeer's paintings of the late 1660s,
The astronomer and
The GeographerA geographer is a scientist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's physical environment and human habitat.Though geographers are historically known as people who make maps, map making is actually the field of study of cartography, a subset of geography...
. However, others argue that there appears to be little physical similarity. Because they were both relatively important men in a city with only 24,000 inhabitants, it is likely that they were at least acquaintances. Also, it is known that Van Leeuwenhoek acted as the
executorAn executor, in the broadest sense, is one who carries something out .Executor is also a legal term referring to a person named by a maker of a will, or nominated by the testator, to carry out the directions of the will...
when the painter died in 1675.
In
A Short History of Nearly EverythingA Short History of Nearly Everything is a general science book by Bill Bryson, which explains some areas of science, using a style of language more accessible to the general public than many other books dedicated to the subject...
(p. 236)
Bill BrysonWilliam McGuire "Bill" Bryson, OBE, is a best-selling American author of humorous books on travel, as well as books on the English language and on scientific subjects. Born an American, he was a resident of North Yorkshire, England, for most of his professional life before moving back to the US in...
alludes to rumors that Vermeer's mastery of light and perspective came from use of a
camera obscuraThe camera obscura is an optical device that projects an image of its surroundings on a screen. It is used in drawing and for entertainment, and was one of the inventions that led to photography. The device consists of a box or room with a hole in one side...
produced by Van Leeuwenhoek. This is one of the examples of the controversial Hockney–Falco thesis, which claims that some of the
Old Master"Old Master" is a term for a European painter of skill who worked before about 1800, or a painting by such an artist. An "old master print" is an original print made by an artist in the same period...
s used optical aids to produce their masterpieces.
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