Images: (1) Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (2) Leeuwenhoek's Microscope (circa late 1600's) (3) First illustration of bacteria 1683. Leeuwenhoek discovers it with the investigation of its tartar.
Caption: Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, who lived in the Netherlands between 1632 and 1723, was an amateur in science and lacked any type of formal university training. His experiments with microscopy design and function led him to become an international authority on microscopy and he was granted the honor of Fellowship in the Royal Society in 1680. Leeuwenhoek designed and built several hundred microscopes that were all very small and had a very similar design and function. The dimensions of his microscopes were fairly constant at approximately two inches long and one inch across. The main body of these microscopes consists of two flat and thin metal (usually brass) plates riveted together. Sandwiched between the plates was a small bi-convex lens capable of magnifications ranging from 70x to over 250x, depending upon the lens quality.
Source: Molecular Expressions-Exploring the world of Optics and Microscopy
Websites: http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/museum/leeuwenhoek.html
www.nigms.nih.gov/news/science_ed/whatart3.html
NSF funded: No
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