Antony van Leeuwenhoek, "Inventor of the Microscope"

By Carly Lyseng

Science progresses in small steps and giant leaping bounds. Inventions come from tried and true scientists and non-scientists. One of the most important inventions in the scientific world was by one of those non-scientists. Antony van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723) developed many microscopes: a man that did not hold any degrees or
higher education. His story of the invention of his microscope is interesting and important to science, as we know it now.

Leeuwenhoek was from a family of tradesmen and lived the life of a tradesman for most of his life. He worked as a fabric merchant, a surveyor, a wine assayer, a minor city official, and trustee of the estate of Jan Vermeer, a famous painter. During these professions as a tradesman, he learnt how to grind lenses. This hobby enabled Leeuwenhoek to develop his own type of microscope, different from those of the time.

Contrary to popular belief, Leeuwenhoek did not really invent the microscope. Rather, he took the design of Robert Hooke one (or many) step(s) further.  Leeuwenhoek became interested in microscopy by reading a copy of Hooke's illustrated book Micrographia. Robert Hooke invented his microscope around 1595, almost forty years before Leeuwenhoek was born. When Leeuwenhoek took up his practice of grinding lenses and making microscopes, he increased the resolution from twenty to thirty times of the conventional microscope to over 200 times. Leeuwenhoek could then see and describe small objects better than any body had been able to do before. While Leeuwenhoek did not invent the microscope, he rather took the design of the compound microscope of the day and developed it to be much more powerful.

Antony van Leeuwenhoek, a man who came from a trades family, who could only speak Dutch, and had no higher level education discovered sperm cells, blood cells, microscopic nematodes, microscopic rotifers and most importantly bacteria. He discovered the microscopic world not because he was a scientist, but rather because of
his patience and insatiable curiosity.

Questions for Discussion

What does this episode reveal about scientific discoveries? (Are discoveries always done by scientists?)

What are some characteristics of the people who make significant discoveries? 

Did Leeuwenhoek have a hypothesis that he researched? Did he follow the scientific process?

Should the scientific community have discarded Leeuwenhoek's discoveries because he was not a scientist? Justify your opinion.

References

Kumin, Maxine (1968). The Microscope. New York: Harper & Row.

Ralston, Alma Payne (1970). Discoverer of the Unseen World. The cleere observer: a  biography of Antony van Leeuwenhoek. London: Macmillan.

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/leeuwenhoek.html

http://www.emporia.edu/academy/honorsed/student_projects/reindeer/park.htm

http://www.utmem.edu/personal/thjones/hist/c3.htm

Curriculum Fit

Science 10, Unit 2: Energy and Matter in Living Systems