Antonie van Leeuwenhoek

Antonie van Leeuwenhoek
microscopist and microbiologist in history[note 1] Microscopic discovery of microorganisms (animalcule)
Scientific career
Fields	Microscopy Microbiology
Signature

Antonie Philips van Leeuwenhoek

Raised in

Using single-lensed microscopes of his own design and make, Van Leeuwenhoek was the first to observe and to experiment with

Antonie van Leeuwenhoek was born in Delft, Dutch Republic, on 24 October 1632. On 4 November, he was baptized as Thonis. His father, Philips Antonisz van Leeuwenhoek, was a basket maker who died when Antonie was only five years old. His mother, Margaretha (Bel van den Berch), came from a well-to-do brewer's family. She remarried Jacob Jansz Molijn, a painter and the family moved to Warmond around 1640. Antonie had four older sisters: Margriet, Geertruyt, Neeltje, and Catharina.^[11] When he was around ten years old his step-father died. He was sent to live in Benthuizen with his uncle, an attorney. At the age of 16 he became a bookkeeper's apprentice (casher) at a linen-draper's shop at Warmoesstraat in Amsterdam,^[12] which was owned by William Davidson. Van Leeuwenhoek left there after six years.^[13][14]

In July 1654 Van Leeuwenhoek married Barbara de Mey in Delft, with whom he fathered one surviving daughter, Maria (four other children died in infancy). He would live and study for the rest of his life at Hypolytusbuurt in a house he bought in 1655. He opened a draper's shop, selling linen, yarn and ribbon to seamstresses and tailors.

In 1669 he was appointed as a

Van Leeuwenhoek was a contemporary of another famous Delft citizen, the painter Johannes Vermeer, who was baptized just four days earlier. It has been suggested that he is the man portrayed in two Vermeer paintings of the late 1660s, The Astronomer and The Geographer, but 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, living both close to the main market, it is likely they knew each other. Van Leeuwenhoek acted as the executor of Vermeer's will when the painter died in 1675.^{[18][note 4]}

Van Leeuwenhoek's religion was "

While running his draper shop, Van Leeuwenhoek wanted to see the quality of the thread better than what was possible using the magnifying lenses of the time. He developed an interest in lensmaking, although few records exist of his early activity. By placing the middle of a small rod of soda lime glass in a hot flame, one can pull the hot section apart to create two long whiskers of glass. Then, by reinserting the end of one whisker into the flame, a very small, high-quality glass lens is created. Significantly, a May 2021 neutron tomography study of a high-magnification Leeuwenhoek microscope^[22] captured images of the short glass stem characteristic of this lens creation method. For lower magnifications he also made ground lenses.^[23] To help keep his methods confidential he apparently intentionally encouraged others to think grinding was his primary or only lens construction method.

Recognition by the Royal Society

After developing his method for creating powerful lenses and applying them to the study of the microscopic world,

Van Leeuwenhoek's work fully captured the attention of the Royal Society, and he began corresponding regularly with the society regarding his observations. At first he had been reluctant to publicize his findings, regarding himself as a businessman with little scientific, artistic, or writing background, but de Graaf urged him to be more confident in his work.

Eventually, in the face of Van Leeuwenhoek's insistence, the Royal Society arranged for Alexander Petrie, minister to the English Reformed Church in Delft; Benedict Haan, at that time Lutheran minister at Delft; and Henrik Cordes, then Lutheran minister at the Hague, accompanied by Sir Robert Gordon and four others, 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 that might require reform. Finally in 1677,^[30] Van Leeuwenhoek's observations were fully acknowledged by the Royal Society.^[31]

Antonie van Leeuwenhoek was elected to the Royal Society in February 1680 on the nomination of William Croone, a then-prominent physician.^{[note 5]} Van Leeuwenhoek was "taken aback" by the nomination, which he considered a high honour, although he did not attend the induction ceremony in London, nor did he ever attend a Royal Society meeting.^[33] He had his portrait painted by Jan Verkolje with the certificate signed by James II of England on the table beside him.

Scientific fame

By the end of the seventeenth century, Van Leeuwenhoek had a virtual monopoly on microscopic study and discovery. His contemporary

Antonie van Leeuwenhoek made more than 500 optical lenses. He also created at least 25 single-lens microscopes, of differing types, of which only nine have survived. These microscopes were made of silver or copper frames, holding hand-made lenses. Those that have survived are capable of magnification up to 275 times. It is suspected 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.^[39]

The single-lens microscopes of Van Leeuwenhoek were relatively small devices, the largest being about 5 cm long.^[40][41] They are used by placing the lens very close in front of the eye. The other side of the microscope had a pin, where the sample was attached in order to stay close to the lens. There were also three screws to move the pin and the sample along three axes: one axis to change the focus, and the two other axes to navigate through the sample.

Van Leeuwenhoek maintained throughout his life that there are aspects of microscope construction "which I only keep for myself", in particular his most critical secret of how he made the lenses.

Van Leeuwenhoek used samples and measurements to estimate numbers of microorganisms in units of water.[45]^[46] He also made good use of the huge advantage provided by his method. He studied a broad range of microscopic phenomena, and shared the resulting observations freely with groups such as the British Royal Society.^[47] Such work firmly established his place in history as one of the first and most important explorers of the microscopic world. Van Leeuwenhoek was one of the first people to observe cells, much like Robert Hooke.^[6] Van Leeuwenhoek wrote his letters in Dutch and sent them to the Royal Society; the letters were then translated into English. He corresponded with Antonio Magliabechi.^[48]

Discoveries

• Leeuwenhoek was one of the first to conduct experiments on himself. It was from his finger that blood was drawn for examination, and he placed pieces of his skin under a microscope, examining its structure in various parts of the body, and counting the number of vessels that permeate it.^[49]
• Both
  red blood cells.^[50]
• infusoria (protists in modern zoological classification), in 1674
• in 1675 he was studying a variety of minerals, especially salts, and parts of plants and animals.
• the vacuole of the cell in 1676
• spermatozoa, in 1677
• the banded pattern of
  muscular fibers
  , in 1682
• bacteria, (e.g., large Selenomonads from the human mouth), in 1683^{[51][note 6][52][note 7]}
• It seems he used horseradish to find out what causes irritation on the tongue.^[53] He used the effect of vinegar.
• Leeuwenhoek diligently began to search for his animalcules.
  paradontitis.^[54]
• In 1684 he published his research on the ovary.^[55]
• In 1687, Van Leeuwenhoek reported his research on the coffee bean.^[56][57] He roasted the bean, cut it into slices and saw a spongy interior. The bean was pressed, and an oil appeared. He boiled the coffee with rain water twice and set it aside.^[58]
• Leeuwenhoek corresponded regularly with
  States of Holland and in 1687 member of the board of the Delft chamber of the VOC
  .
• In 1696
  Nicolaas Witsen send him a map of Tartary and ore found near the Amur in Siberia.^[59]

• In 1702 he requested a book on Peruvian silver mines in Potosí.

Like Robert Boyle and Nicolaas Hartsoeker, Van Leeuwenhoek was interested in dried cochineal, trying to find out if the dye came from a berry or an insect.^{[63][64][65][66]}

He studied rainwater, the seeds of oranges, worms in sheep's liver, the eye of a whale, the blood of fishes, mites, coccinellidae, the skin of elephants, Celandine, and Cinchona.^[48]

• 
  Van Leeuwenhoek's microscopes by Henry Baker
• 
  Leeuwenhoek Boerhaave museum
• 
  A replica of a microscope by Van Leeuwenhoek

Legacy and recognition

By the end of his life, Van Leeuwenhoek had written approximately 560 letters to the Royal Society and other scientific institutions concerning his observations and discoveries. Even during the last weeks of his life, Van Leeuwenhoek continued to send letters full of observations to London. The last few contained a precise description of his own illness. He suffered from a rare disease, an uncontrolled movement of the

In 1981, the British microscopist Brian J. Ford 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 all were well preserved.^[69][70][71] Ford carried out observations with a range of single-lens microscopes, adding to our knowledge of Van Leeuwenhoek's work.^[72] In Ford's opinion, Leeuwenhoek remained imperfectly understood, the popular view that his work was crude and undisciplined at odds with the evidence of conscientious and painstaking observation. He constructed rational and repeatable experimental procedures and was willing to oppose received opinion, such as spontaneous generation, and he changed his mind in the light of evidence.^[39]

On his importance in the history of microbiology and science in general, the British biochemist Nick Lane wrote that he was "the first even to think of looking—certainly, the first with the power to see." His experiments were ingenious, and he was "a scientist of the highest calibre", attacked by people who envied him or "scorned his unschooled origins", not helped by his secrecy about his methods.^[29]

The

On 24 October 2016, Google commemorated the 384th anniversary of Van Leeuwenhoek's birth with a Doodle that depicted his discovery of "little animals" or animalcules, now known as unicellular organisms.^[75]

The

• 
  Memorial of Antonie van Leeuwenhoek in the Oude Kerk in Delft
• 
  Antonie van Leeuwenhoek is buried in the Oude Kerk.
• 
  Het Gouden Hoofd (Hippolytusbuurt 1–3, Delft).^[77]

See also

• Animalcule
• Regnier de Graaf
• Dutch Golden Age
• History of microbiology
• Microscopy
• Microscope
• Robert Hooke
• Microscopic discovery of microorganisms
• Microscopic scale
• Science and technology in the Dutch Republic
• Scientific Revolution
• Nicolas Steno
• Jan Swammerdam
• Timeline of microscope technology
• Johannes Vermeer

Notes

References

1. doi:10.1098/rstb.2014.0344
2. S2CID 84998029
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3. PMID 1090737
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4. ^ Dobell, pp. 300–305.
5. ISBN 978-9813202948
   ). "We may fairly call Leeuwenhoek "The first microbiologist" because he was the first individual to actually culture, see, and describe a large array of microbial life. He actually measured the multiplication of the bugs. What is more amazing is that he published his discoveries."
6. ^
   ISBN 9780674975910
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7. ^ "Antony van Leeuwenhoek Biography |". Biography Online. Retrieved 27 April 2023.
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9. ^ ^{a b} Anderson, Douglas. "Animalcules". Lens on Leeuwenhoek. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
10. ^ "Antoni Van Leeuwenhoek | Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 29 July 2023.
11. ^ Dobell, pp. 19–21.
12. ^ Dobell, pp. 23–24.
13. ^ The curious observer. Events of the first half of Van Leeuwenhoek's life. Lens on Leeuwenhoek (1 September 2009). Retrieved 20 April 2013.
14. ^ Huerta, p. 31.
15. ^ "'The Golden Head' – Antoni's house". Delft.com. Retrieved 14 February 2024.
16. ^ Dobell, pp. 33–37.
17. ^ Dobell, pp. 27–31.
18. ^ Van Berkel, K. (24 February 1996). Vermeer, Van Leeuwenhoek en De Astronoom. Vrij Nederland (Dutch magazine), p. 62–67.
19. ^ "The religious affiliation of Biologist A. van Leeuwenhoek". Adherents.com. 8 July 2005. Archived from the original on 7 July 2010. Retrieved 13 June 2010.
20. ^ "The Religion of Antony van Leeuwenhoek". 2006. Archived from the original on 4 May 2006. Retrieved 23 April 2006.
21. ^ A. Schierbeek, Editor-in-Chief of the Collected Letters of A. van Leeuwenhoek, Measuring the Invisible World: The Life and Works of Antoni van Leeuwenhoek F R S, Abelard-Schuman (London and New York, 1959), QH 31 L55 S3, LC 59-13233. This book contains excerpts of Van Leeuwenhoek's letters and focuses on his priority in several new branches of science, but makes several important references to his spiritual life and motivation.
22. ^
    PMID 33990325
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23. ^ Klaus Meyer: Das Utrechter Leeuwenhoek-Mikroskop. In: Mikrokosmos. Volume 88, 1999, S. 43–48.
24. ^ Observationes microscopicae Antonii Lewenhoeck, circa particulas liquorum globosa et animalia. Acta Eruditorum. Leipzig. 1682. p. 321.
25. ^ Dobell, pp. 37–41.
26. ^ Dobell, pp. 41–42.
27. ^ Dobell, pp. 43–44.
28. ^ Anderson, Douglas. "Wrote Letter 18 of 1676-10-09 (AB 26) to Henry Oldenburg". Lens on Leeuwenhoek. Retrieved 3 March 2016.
29. ^
    PMID 25750239
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30. ^ Schierbeek, A.: "The Disbelief of the Royal Society". Measuring the Invisible World. London and New York: Abelard-Schuman, 1959. N. pag. Print.
31. ^ Full text of "Antony van Leeuwenhoek and his "Little animals"; being some account of the father of protozoology and bacteriology and his multifarious discoveries in these disciplines;". Recall.archive.org. Retrieved 20 April 2013.
32. ^ Dobell, pp. 53–54.
33. ^ Dobell, pp. 46–50.
34. ^ Dobell, pp. 52–53.
35. ^ ^{a b} "Lens on Leeuwenhoek".
36. ^ "Visited by Tsar Peter the Great of Russia | Lens on Leeuwenhoek".
37. ISBN 978-0-393-24854-8
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38. ^ Dobell, pp. 54–61.
39. ^ ^{a b} Brian J. Ford (1992). "From Dilettante to Diligent Experimenter: a Reappraisal of Leeuwenhoek as microscopist and investigator". Biology History. 5 (3).
40. ^ Anderson, Douglas. "Tiny Microscopes". Lens on Leeuwenhoek. Archived from the original on 2 May 2015. Retrieved 3 March 2016.
41. ^ Lens on Leeuwenhoek: How he made his tiny microscopes. Lensonleeuwenhoek.net. Retrieved 15 September 2013.
42. ^ Moll 2003
43. ^ "A glass-sphere microscope". Funsci.com. Archived from the original on 11 June 2010. Retrieved 13 June 2010.
44. ^ A. Mosolov & A. Belkin (1980). "Секрет Антони ван Левенгука (N 122468)" [Secret of Antony van Leeuwenhoek?]. Nauka i Zhizn (in Russian). 09–1980: 80–82. Archived from the original on 23 September 2008.
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47. ^ "Robert Hooke (1635–1703)". Ucmp.berkeley.edu. Retrieved 13 June 2010.
48. ^ ^{a b} "De 2e en de 3e Engelsche reeksen der brieven van Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (7e Bijdrage tot de Studie over de werken van den Stichter der Micrographie) door Prof. Dr. A.J.J. Vandevelde Werkend Lid der Koninklijke Vlaamsche Academie., Verslagen en mededelingen van de Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie voor Taal- en Letterkunde 1924".
49. ^ ^{a b} "Levende Dierkens". Lens on Leeuwenhoek.
50. ^ "1674: Perhaps will to many seem incredible". Lens on Leeuwenhoek.
51. ^ Anderson, Douglas. "Wrote Letter 39 of 1683-09-17 (AB 76) to Francis Aston". Lens on Leeuwenhoek. Archived from the original on 20 August 2016. Retrieved 26 September 2016.
52. ISBN 978-1-4496-8861-5
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53. ^ "Микробы. Антони ван Левенгук".
54. ^ "Brief No. 76 [39]. 17 September 1683., Alle de brieven. Deel 4: 1683-1684, Anthoni van Leeuwenhoek".
55. ^ "Eyerstok | Lens on Leeuwenhoek".
56. ^ "Wrote Letter L-187 of 1687-05-09 to members of the Royal Society about the structure of 'stone' of the medlar and the coffee bean and acid in plants | Lens on Leeuwenhoek".
57. ^ "The Royal Society read and discussed part of Letter L-187 about coffee | Lens on Leeuwenhoek".
58. ^ 9 May 1687, Missive 54.
59. ^ Marion Peters (2010) De wijze koopman, Het wereldwijde onderzoek van Nicolaes Witsen (1641-1717), burgemeester en VOC-bewindhebber van Amsterdam. p. 139
60. S2CID 29628388
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61. ^ "Specimen preparation | Lens on Leeuwenhoek".
62. ^ "Illumination | Lens on Leeuwenhoek".
63. ^ Antoni van Leeuwenhoek; Samuel Hoole (1800). The Select Works of Antony van Leeuwenhoek, Containing His Microscopical Discoveries in Many of the Works of Nature. G. Sidney. pp. 213–.
64. ^ Rocky Road: Leeuwenhoek. Strangescience.net (22 November 2012). Retrieved 20 April 2013.
65. ISBN 0-06-052276-3
66. ^ "Wrote Letter L-194 of 1687-11-28 to members of the Royal Society about his discovery that cochineal was an insect and his experiments with cinchona bark | Lens on Leeuwenhoek".
67. ^ Life and work of Antoni van Leeuwenhoek of Delft in Holland; 1632–1723 (1980) Published by the Municipal Archives Delft, p. 9
68. ISBN 9789060040980
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69. ^ Biology History vol 5(3), December 1992
70. ^ The Microscope vol 43(2) pp 47–57
71. ^ Spektrum der Wissenschaft pp. 68–71, June 1998
72. ^ "The discovery by Brian J Ford of Leeuwenhoek's original specimens, from the dawn of microscopy in the 16th century". Brianjford.com. Retrieved 13 June 2010.
73. ^ Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (in Dutch). Retrieved 25 October 2016.
74. ^ "Fortuyn voted greatest Dutchman". 16 November 2004. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
75. ^ New Google Doodle Celebrates Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, Inventor of Microbiology. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
76. ^ Leeuwenhoek Medal and Lecture royalsociety.org accessed 24 October 2020
77. ^ "Hippolytusbuurt 3, Leeuwenhoek's Home and Laboratory | Lens on Leeuwenhoek".

Sources

• Cobb, Matthew: Generation: The Seventeenth-Century Scientists Who Unraveled the Secrets of Sex, Life, and Growth. (US: Bloomsbury, 2006)
  ISBN 9781596910362
• Cobb, Matthew: The Egg and Sperm Race: The Seventeenth-Century Scientists Who Unlocked the Secrets of Sex and Growth. (London: Simon & Schuster, 2006)
• Davids, Karel: The Rise and Decline of Dutch Technological Leadership: Technology, Economy and Culture in the Netherlands, 1350–1800 [2 vols.]. (Brill, 2008,
  ISBN 978-9004168657
  )
• Dobell, Clifford (1960) [1932]. Antony van Leeuwenhoek and His "Little Animals": being some account of the father of protozoology and bacteriology and his multifarious discoveries in these disciplines (Dover Publications ed.). New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company.
• Ford, Brian J. (1991). The Leeuwenhoek Legacy. Bristol and London: Biopress and Farrand Press.
• Ford, Brian J.: Single Lens: The Story of the Simple Microscope. (London: William Heinemann, 1985, 182 pp)
• Ford, Brian J.: The Revealing Lens: Mankind and the Microscope. (London: George Harrap, 1973, 208 pp)
• Fournier, Marian: The Fabric of Life: The Rise and Decline of Seventeenth-Century Microscopy (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996,
  ISBN 978-0801851384
  )
• Huerta, Robert (2003). Giants of Delft: Johannes Vermeer and the Natural Philosophers: The Parallel Search for Knowledge during the Age of Discovery. Pennsylvania: Bucknell University Press.
• Moll, Warnar (2003). "Antonie van Leeuwenhoek". Onderzoeksportal [Research Portal]. University of Amsterdam. Archived from the original on 18 February 2004. Retrieved 3 March 2016. [Referring to Valk (1745)] Indeed, in this publication "Geneeskundig Verhaal van de Algemeene Loop-ziekte..." the author uses the work of Leeuwenhoek in describing the disease, draws some (preliminary) conclusions about the cause of the disease, he warns "non-believers of Van Leeuwenhoek to use a magnifying glass" and gives commentaries on the work of Anthonie van Leeuwenhoek and his findings.
• Payne, Alma Smith (1970). The Cleere Observer: A biography of Antoni van Leeuwenhoek. London: Macmillan.
• Ratcliff, Marc J.: The Quest for the Invisible: Microscopy in the Enlightenment. (Ashgate, 2009, 332 pp)
• Robertson, Lesley; Backer, Jantien et al.: Antoni van Leeuwenhoek: Master of the Minuscule. (Brill, 2016,
  ISBN 978-9004304284
  )
• Ruestow, Edward G (1996). The Microscope in the Dutch Republic: The Shaping of Discovery. New York: Cambridge University Press.
• Snyder, Laura J. (2015). Eye of the Beholder: Johannes Vermeer, Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, and the Reinvention of Seeing. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
• Struik, Dirk J.: The Land of Stevin and Huygens: A Sketch of Science and Technology in the Dutch Republic during the Golden Century (Studies in the History of Modern Science). (Springer, 1981, 208 pp)
• Valk, Evert (1745). Een geneeskundig verhaal van de algemeene loop-ziekte, die te Kampen en in de om-geleegene streeken heeft gewoed in 't jaar 1736 neevens een werktuigkunstige, en natuurkundige beschryvinge van de oorzaak, uitwerking en genezinge waar in word aan-getoond, dat dezelve, waarschynlyk, door bloed-loose diertjes, beschreven in de werken van Anthony van Leeuwenhoek, het werd te weeg gebragt, en door kwik voor-naamentlyk, uit-geroeid [A work on a disease in the city of Kampen in 1736 caused by "little animals". These bloodless animals are most likely the little animals described in the work of Leeuwenhoek and they can be killed by treatment of mercury] (in Dutch). Haarlem: Van der Vinne. p. 97. Retrieved 3 March 2016.
• Wilson, Catherine: The Invisible World: Early Modern Philosophy and the Invention of the Microscope. (Princeton University Press, 1997,
  ISBN 978-0691017099
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• de Kruif, Paul (1926). "I Leeuwenhoek: First of the Microbe Hunters". Microbe Hunters. Blue Ribbon Books. New York: Harcourt Brace & Company Inc. pp. 3–24. Retrieved 14 October 2020.

External links

Wikisource has original works by or about:
Antoni van Leeuwenhoek

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
Anton van Leeuwenhoek (category)

• Leeuwenhoek's letters to the Royal Society
• The Correspondence of Anthonie van Leeuwenhoek in EMLO
• Lens on Leeuwenhoek (site on Leeuwenhoek's life and observations)
• Vermeer connection website
• University of California, Berkeley article on van Leeuwenhoek
• Works by Antoni van Leeuwenhoek at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about Antonie van Leeuwenhoek at Internet Archive
• Retrospective paper on the Leeuwenhoek research by Brian J. Ford.
• Images seen through a van Leeuwenhoek microscope by Brian J. Ford.
• Instructions on making a van Leeuwenhoek Microscope Replica by Alan Shinn