Antonie van Leeuwenhoek

Timeline

1. 1632–1668Delft · South HollandBorn in Delft, he engaged in the cloth trade in his youth and served as a minor municipal official. In the later 1660s he began grinding glass lenses, laying the technical foundation for his later microscopic observation; during this period his main activities were local Delft commerce and official duties.
2. 1673–1723Delft · South HollandFrom 1673 he published observation reports through the Royal Society, observing drops of water, dental tartar, blood, and insects with a self-made single-lens microscope, and first describing microorganisms as 'animalcules'. He published correspondence for over fifty years, recording microscopic structures in precise drawings and founding the tradition of microbial observation.