Spermatozoon
El espermatozoide
- Date
- 1677 · confidence high
- Place
- Delft, Netherlands
- Credited to
- Antonie van Leeuwenhoek and Johan Ham
- People
- 👤 Antonie van Leeuwenhoek1632–1723👤 Johan Ham1650–1723
- Field
- Life & health
What was discovered
Observation of motile cells in human semen, described as 'animalcules'. It opened the controversy between animalculists and ovists over the origin of life.
The student Johan Ham brought the sample to Leeuwenhoek.
What it led to
- theory of fertilisation
- modern embryology
- the preformation-epigenesis debate
Built on
- Leeuwenhoek single-lens microscopec. 1670-1674
- Leeuwenhoek's microscope
Made possible
- Mammalian ovum (von Baer)1827
- semen analysis
- artificial insemination (Spallanzani, 1780)