Microscopic Organisms

Several experimenters with microscope discovered new findings, including Robert Hooke (1635-1703), who was the first to describe the cellular structure of plants.

In 1665, Hooke published his book Micrographia, a series of illustrations and description and of his observations using new and improved microscopes.

However, Anton von Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723), a Dutch lensmaker, pioneered in the field, achieving much greater magnifications than others. Over the more than fifty years following 1672 until his death, he described and draws illustrations of his findings.

Leeuwenhoek made his simple microscope in the 1670s. He used to look at rain water, soil, body fluids and other materials.

He described bacteria, sperm, protozoa and red corpuscle of blood. He describes the mouthparts of insects and the stricture of plants.

What he saw shocked him. In a drop of water small creatures swimming around, organisms so small no one knew they existed.

Leeuwenhoek’s microscope consisted of a single lenses, some extremely small. His discovery of protozoa and sperm cells, which he called animacules, contributed to a controversy between ovists and animaculist that lasted through of the 18th century.

Animacules which is termed by Leeuwenhoek today is known microorganisms or microbes.

The study of the microscopic details of life languished was due to the poor quality of 17th and 18th century microscopes.

Leeuwenhoek’s handmade lenses were far better than any other in existence and can magnify the objects 300 times.
Microscopic Organisms