ABSTRACT
As Antoine van Leeuwenhoek peered into his microscope in the middle of the 17th century, he observed, for the first time in history, the microscopic universe [1]. Although the pathogenic theory of disease had speculated the existence of microscopic organisms for centuries, van Leeuwenhoek was the first person to witness the diminutive world of bacteria through his self-made, highly secretive microscope design. In April of 1676, van Leeuwenhoek observed a sample of water which he had left incubate with peppercorns over a period of three weeks. Under his microscope lens fluttered a collection of tiny bacteria. With a keen sense of the scientific merit in this discovery, van
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Leeuwenhoek refined his designs and was able to build the world’s first microscopes capable of magnification in the 200× range, much higher than the 20-30× range in existence during his time. He subsequently devoted a considerable amount of his life to the observation of the microscopic realm and is credited with the discovery of a host of minuscule structures including bacteria, red blood cells, protists, and nematodes. Van Leeuwenhoek’s work led directly to Nicolas Andry’s development of parasitology, and ultimately to the entire field of microbiology.
