ABSTRACT
It was not until the development of the first microscopes (by the Janssen brothers around 1590) that microbes were observed as minute structures on surfaces. Robert Hooke began showing the fruiting structures of molds around the courts of Europe and published the first survey of microbes (Micrographia) in 1660. The first person to observe prokaryotes microscopically was Antonie van Leeuwenhoek in 1676. He published his observations on these ‘animicules’ to the Royal Society of London. However, the theory of spontaneous generation stopped much further investigation, since it claimed that the intervention of divine power led to the spontaneous creation of molds and other spoilage organisms (including mice) should food be left unattended. The belief that living organisms could arise from otherwise inert materials began around the time of Aristotle (384–322 bc) and eventually this theory was disproved (but not entirely discarded) by the experiments of Pasteur in 1861 using swan-necked flasks. These allowed the preservation of beef broth for long periods, with spoilage only initiated once an airborne, invisible contaminant was reintroduced into the broth.
