Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723), known as the founding father of microbiology, was a Dutch cloth merchant. He succeeded in discovering the invisible world of microorganisms with homemade microscopes.
How did he discover microbes?
Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, as a fabric merchant, used a magnifying glass to see irregularities in cotton. In this way, he realized his interest in producing magnifying lenses, blowing glass, and grinding. Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, who was also interested in the natural environment, started to use the lenses he produced to look at the natural world. He discovered microbes with his homemade microscope in 1674 and made history as the first person to do so. He said that he saw microscopic animals in the sample he took from Lake Berkelse Meer, which has turbid water. These microscopic animals he saw were green algae and rotifers. Shortly after this discovery, he discovered bacteria and red blood cells in 1676.
And very important details
A few months before the Dutch anatomist Regnier De Graaf died at the age of 32, one of his important contributions to science was the letter he wrote on 28 April 1673 to Henry Oldenburg, secretary of the Royal Academy in London.
In this letter, which might have delayed the birth of modern microbiology for decades if it had not been written, De Graaf states that a Delft-based clothmaker named Leeuwenhoek, who does not speak any language other than Dutch, made microscopes that outshine all microscopes ever made.
Antonie Philips van Leeuwenhoek (24 October 1632 – 26 August 1723) was a Dutch microbiologist and microscopist in the Golden Age of Dutch science and technology. A largely self-taught man in science, he is commonly known as "the Father of Microbiology", and one of the first microscopists and microbiologists. Van Leeuwenhoek is best known for his pioneering work in microscopy and for his contributions toward the establishment of microbiology as a scientific discipline.
Graaf also translated and added Leeuwenhoek's first article, "Example of some observations made by Mr. Leeuwenhoek with a microscope and later shared with Dr. Regnier De Graaf".
Leeuwenhoek's article, which includes detailed information about a bee's wing, eye, and head, also attracts the attention of the Royal Academy, and he is asked in a second letter to examine different specimens. Thus, Leeuwenhoek acquires an important condition for making great contributions to the universal progress of science, an environment of interaction in which he can share his invention.
“Animals in a drop”
A few years later, he announced his work, which laid the groundwork for microbiology, in his famous article No. 18: “... These little animals were smaller than one-thousandth of the water lice visible to the naked eye…”
This observation has a great impact on the scientific community. Due to Leeuwenhoek's lack of education, the Academy requests that the findings be confirmed by Delft dignitaries. Robert Hook, the academy's own microscope expert, confirmed this work in 1678, after the approval of the committee formed by the city's notables.
Leeuwenhoek is invited to the Royal Academy after detailed studies with the microscope of his own manufacture in his workshop. This membership motivates him even more, and after his research that gave birth to the science of microbiology, he examines many other examples: bacteria, sperm, blood, muscle, neuron cells, eye lens, bone, tooth and hair structure, plantworm, fly, spider, salt crystals are some of them.
Leeuwenhoek deserves the title of founder of the sciences of protistology, protozoology, bacteriology, hematology, serology, plant anatomy, and microbial ecology with his extensive research.
80 years after the microscope
Although the microscope has been known as a magnifying tool since 1595, it is noteworthy that microorganisms were discovered by Leeuwenhoek eighty years later. Leeuwenhoek's use of the microscope, which had until then only been used to examine inanimate objects, to examine what happens in an ordinary drop of water, is a testament to his attentive and passionate investigative personality.
Leeuwenhoek's studies showing the microorganism-disease relationship are one of the best examples in history of making research a way of life. Leeuwenhoek, who took samples of the white spots on his tongue and examined them under a microscope, the day after he was sick, observed dozens of living things and put forward the idea that the origin of diseases could be microorganisms.
This finding is well ahead of its time. That is to say, 39 years after his death, it was shown by Marc von Plenciz that infectious diseases are of microorganism origin. 112 years after his death, Agostino Bassi proved that silkworm disease is of bacterial origin.
Conceptual Contributions to Science
In addition to being the founder of many branches of science, Leeuwenhoek also made important contributions to science in terms of concepts. He expressed the concept of contamination (infection by contact) for the first time in 1715 with the following sentences: "...who knows how many small animals will stick to the glass, most of which will be carried into our mouths, when someone washes their glass with water from a dirty pool..."
In addition, the fact that he was able to visualize bacterial flagella (whip) during his work indicates that he can use today's methods such as darkfield illumination in an experimental sense, although he did not specifically specify it. While examining the archives of the Royal Academy in 1981, specially preserved microscopic sections were found among the letters Leeuwenhoek sent to the academy. Detailed examinations showed that the sections were close to today's laboratory standards. This finding is important in terms of showing the care in Leeuwenhoek's working method.
It is thought that Leeuwenhoek's interest in microscopy emerged after reading Robert Hook's book Micrographia, with the lenses he obtained by blowing glass to examine the quality of the fabrics in his store. These studies soon became his biggest hobby and led him to make more than 550 microscopes in his lifetime. There are only ten of these microscopes available today.
Leeuwenhoek, who died in 1723 at the age of 91, sums up his research-filled life well in the 634 letters he sent to the Royal Academy, and shortly before his death, while lying in his sickbed, he asked his doctor Jan Hoogvliet to translate his last papers. Leeuwenhoek, with his passion and research interest, is one of the most important scientific figures who can set an example for young scientist candidates.