FATHER OF MICROBIOLOGY

LEEUWENHOEK

• Born in Delft on 24 October, 1632.
• First microbiologist.
• Made some of the most important discoveries in the history of biology.
• Made changes to the microscope.

EARLY YEARS

• Father was a basket maker.
• Lived with uncle in Benthuizen.
• Apprentice for a linen-draper's shop when 16.

PERSONAL LIFE

• In July, 1654, he married Barbara de Mey.
• Had five children but only one daughter survived.
• Wife died in 1666, and he remarried.
• Was a very well known figure in Delft and received a municipal title for the city's sheriff's assembly chamber.
• Held this position for nearly forty years.

MICROSCOPIC LENSES

• Developed a fascination in lens making while working at his shop.
• Believed to have made over 200 microscopes and over 50 optical lenses.
• The lenses that have endured are able to magnify objects up to 275 times.

SCIENTIFIC SIGNIFICANCE

• By the end of the 17th century, he had a monopoly on microscopic research and discovery.
• Visited by many prominent individuals including Peter the Great, a Russian Czar.
• Would not show any of his cutting edge microscopes.

MAIN DISCOVERIES

• Main discoveries include the infusoria, which are protists in today's zoological classification, bacterial 1674.
• The cell's vacuole in 1676.
• Spermatozoa in 1677.
• Banded structure of muscular fibres in 1682.
• Research on the coffee bean and reported on it in 1687.

DEATH

• Struggled with a rare disease that caused uncontrollable movements in his abdominal region.
• It is now called Van Leeuwenhoek's disease.
• Passed away at the age of 90 in August, 1723.
• Now buried in Delft at the Oude Kerk.

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