Leeuwenhoek - Microbiology

Among the many reasons I'm excited about reading the Philosophical Transactions of The Royal Society is that I want to see firsthand how the scientific discoveries of the day unfolded in real-time. I had the opportunity to do this with ship design during the period of the first Model Basins, and it left me wanting to do the same with other aspects of science.

The Royal Society has issues of Philosophical Transactions going back to the 1600s. I wasn't sure who or what I would find in there. But here is Leeuwenhoek, writing about his observations! As you, of course, know if you are a science geek, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek first became acquainted with the magnifying glass as a tool for determining thread count in the textiles he sold. It wasn't long before he was using the device to examine things around him in the natural world.

He was a pioneer of microbiology and was granted a Fellowship in The Royal Society in 1680. His microscope doesn't look like the microscopes today, and you held it up to your eye to look through it, but it got the job done.

A lot of work was required to get the lenses just right for the many microscopes he designed. And, with his microscopes came discoveries that he shared with The Royal Society.

One of my favorites is III. Another letter from the same Mr Leeweunhoek; concerning his observations on rain water, published 30 June 1702. In this letter, he describes what he found in rainwater that he collected on the 17th of September, 1701, in a fine China basin, "made as clean as was possible." He relates that he "could meet with no living creatures till the 28th of September, at which time I discovered exceeding small Animalcula, that one while fastened themselves toth e sides of the glass, and then sawm in the water with a tremulous motion, which was a very agreeable spectacle."* The letter goes on for several more pages, with a link in the citation below.

*I have modernized spelling and capitalization

Leeuwenhoek Antoni Van

1702III. Another letter from the same Mr Leewuenhoek; concerning his observations on rain waterPhil. Trans. R. Soc.231152–1155http://doi.org/10.1098/rstl.1702.0016

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