Microorganisms (Leeuwenhoek)
Microorganismos ('animálculos')
- Date
- 1676 · confidence high
- Place
- Delft, Netherlands
- Credited to
- Antonie van Leeuwenhoek
- People
- 👤 Antonie van Leeuwenhoek1632–1723
- Field
- Life & health
What was discovered
With single-lens, high-magnification instruments he observed protozoa, bacteria (1683), red blood cells and spermatozoa, revealing an invisible living world. His letters to the Royal Society founded microbiology.
What it led to
- microbiology
- the germ theory of disease two centuries later
- protozoology and bacteriology
Built on
- The cell (Hooke's Micrographia)1665
- lens grinding
- Hooke's Micrographia
Made possible
- Germ theory (Pasteur)1857-1865
- high-resolution microscopy