Leeuwenhoek and Microscopic Life | AMS OpenMind

Microbes are inside us, on us, and all around us. 🦠 They have many functions: they can cause material degradation, ferment sugar to make wine, and produce antibiotics. 🍷💊 But did you know that the person who discovered microbes wasn’t a scientist? It was a cloth merchant! 🧵

Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, dissatisfied with the lenses available, learned to make glass and created high-quality glass spheres that could magnify objects up to 270 times. 🔬 His microscopes, less than 5cm in size, revealed a world never seen before. Van Leeuwenhoek sent his discoveries to the Royal Society in London, including mold, lice, and bees. 🐝

However, his next discovery shocked scientists: tiny animals in pond water, which he called “animalcules,” now known as microbes. 🌊🦠 This was the first observation of single-celled organisms, and it took political and religious figures to verify his findings before he was believed. Van Leeuwenhoek communicated his discoveries through hundreds of letters, describing blood cells, capillary blood flow, and sperm cells, helping to refute the theory of spontaneous generation. 📜

Science would never be seen the same way again.

#microbesinhumanwelfare #ScienceHistory #VanLeeuwenhoek #Microscopy #Discovery #Biology #Education #LearnSomethingNew

A video by ‪@scienseed4294‬