Volume 3, Issue 2
October 22, 2013
Infection Control… Timeless III
Dr. Antony Van Leeuwenhoek - The Microscope
About This Series….
Welcome to the third Edition of
Timeless, a historical
perspective of infection control,
to celebrate Infection Prevention
and Control Week. This year’s
series will highlight some of the
technical advances that have
impacted on infection control.
Enjoy your read.

“Animals in the scurf
of a man’s Teeth are
so many that I believe
they exceed the
number of Men in a
kingdom”
– Antony van Leeuwenhoek
“His work was with
small things but his
glory is not small” –
inscription from the
silver medal
presented to
Leeuwenhoek by the
University of Louvain.
– Plato, 4th century BC
Public Health Ontario
Central South Infection Control
Network
56 Governor’s Road
Dundas, ON L9H 5G7
Tel: 289 975-9063
Toll-free: 1 866 681-4916
Fax: 905 627-6474
Picture Credits:
1. Image source: commons.wikimedia.org
2. Image source: commons.wikimedia.org
3. Image source: commons.wikimedia.org
4. Image source: commons.wikimedia.org
References:
1. Donlan RM. Biofilms: Microbial like on
surfaces. Emerging Infectious Diseases
[serial on the internet]. 2002. [cited 2013
Jun 27]; 8(9). Available from: http://
europepmc.org/articles/PMC2732559?
pdf=render
2. Fred EB. Antony van Leeuwenhoek: On
the three-hundredth anniversary of his
birth. Journal of Bacteriology [serial on the
internet]. 1933. [cited 2013 Jun 27]; 25(1);
1-18. [cited 2013 Jun 27] Available from:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/
PMC533397/pdf/jbacter00821-0004.pdf
3. History of the microscope [homepage on
the Internet]. UK: history-of-themicroscope.org; c2010 [cited 2013 Jun
27]. Available from: http://www.history-ofthe-microscope.org/anton-vanleeuwenhoek-microscope-history.php
4. McCarty DJ. A historical note: Leeuwenhoek’s description of crystals from a gouty
trophus. Arthritis and Rheumatism. 1970;
13 (4). Available from: http://
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/
art.1780130408/abstract
Biography:
Antony Leeuwenhoeck was born on October 24, 1632 in Delft,
Holland. His father and grandfather were basketmakers and his
mother was the daughter of a brewer. He had one brother and 5
sisters. His father died when he was 5 yrs old. At the age of 16,
he moved to Amsterdam and became a drapery tradesman. His
interest in microscopy was no doubt sparked by the use of a
magnifying glass to examine threads in the drapery fabrics he
worked with. He began to hone his glassblowing and lens
grinding skills to develop better magnifying lenses. By 1660, he
was married with 5 children, and owned a home and successful
clothing store in Delft. He was appointed Chamberlain to the
Sheriffs of Delft. This salaried position allowed him to devote
1.
his time to making lenses, microscopes and discovering the
world of microscopy.
Over the next several years, he examined a wide variety of things from water, feces, urine,
insects to tooth scrapings. He described the morphology of microorganisms such as
bacteria, yeast and molds, their physiologic responses to heat, and bacterial grown in
anaerobic environment and other various media. Antony van
Leeuwenhoek could not read Latin and never attended a scientific
meeting or had any contact with a university, but in 1673 he was
encouraged by a young physician to submit reports of his findings to
the scientific group of the Royal Society of London. Over the next
several decades, he submitted over 200 letters to the Society
describing “animalcules”, often including detailed drawings of his
observations. Records of his correspondence with the Society of
London show that he changed the spelling of his name 19 times.
Despite his lack of formal education, in 1680 he was elected Fellow
of the Royal Society and attracted the attention of others curious
about the generation of microscopic life, including many scientists
and nobility who visited his humble home in Delft.
Leeuwenhoeck made many simple microscopes, with a single
biconvex lens mounted on a silver or gold frame. Contrary to the how
microscopes operate nowadays, the object was moved with screws or
glued into focus, rather than moving the lens. During van
2.
Leeuwenhoek’s lifetime he did not sell any microscopes and after his
death left 419 lenses, many with the object still glued in place.
Legacy:
Antony Van Leeuwenhoek had a unique power of
observation coupled with a keen sense of
scientific curiosity and skilled craftsmanship. His
hand-blown and ground lenses were used to
build microscopes with up to
200-300 times magnification.
He was able to observe red
blood cells, sperm, and
single-celled organisms. He
observed bacteria of the cocci, 4.
bacilli
and
spirilla
morphologies. His reported observations of microorganisms in
scrapings from the surfaces of his own teeth represent the first
documented observation of biofilm. He had a unique power of
observation, and meticulously recorded his findings. He was
3.
not content to simply note the presence of “animacules”, but
delved into the mysteries of the origin of life. Antony van Leeuwenhoek is
considered the father of microscopy.
Present Day:
The microscope represents a significant technological advancement impacting the
fields of microbiology, bacteriology and laboratory testing. Cell morphology,
physiology and media for bacterial growth were all developed by this self-taught
scientist. Today’s compound light microscopes have a magnifying power of 1,000 to
2,000 and the electron microscope can go up to 1 million times magnification, a
tremendous improvement over the 200 times magnification of van Leewenhoek’s
microscopes. Although Antony van Leeuwenhoek was not a formally trained
scientist, his careful attention to observation, method and documentation skills are
attributes highly valued by scientists and infection prevention and control
practitioners alike.