Profile of the Day: Antoni van Leeuwenhoek

Antoni van Leeuwenhoek

On this day in 1632, Dutch tradesman Antoni van Leeuwenhoek was born. Known as the “Father of microbiology,” van Leeuwenhoek is considered to be the first person to observe microbes.

He was born in Delft in the Netherlands to Philips Antonisz van Leeuwenhoek, a basket maker, and Margaretha Bel van den Berch, who had come from a brewer family. A draper, van Leeuwenhoek made for an unlikely scientist. He became interested in lensmaking while working in his draper shop. Van Leeuwenhoek wanted to see the quality of his thread better than the then-current magnifying lenses allowed. His interest led him to create the first single-lens microscope, which led him to make some of the first discoveries in the field of microbiology. He became the first person to observe bacteria, muscle fibers, spermatozoa and blood flow in capillaries.

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Image: Wikimedia Commons