Antoni Van Leeuwenhoek: Genius Discoverer of Microscopic Life

Genius Scientists and Their Genius Ideas

by Lisa Yount

For his discoveries of microscopic life, Antoni van Leeuwenhoek is remembered today as one of the great geniuses of science. Using microscopes he made himself, Antoni van Leeuwenhoek peered into exciting new worlds that no one knew existed before. Beginning in the 1670s, he discovered tiny, single-celled living things that he called little animals. His curiosity led him to examine lake water, moldy bread, and even the plaque build-up on his own teeth! Van Leeuwenhoek was also the first to see red blood cells and bacteria.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, History, Biology, Biography

96 pages, Library Binding

First published September 1, 1996

Reviews

[Pam Porter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent young adult biography of Leeuwenhoek! Well researched, entertaining to read, and the author does a great job of making many science connections (e.g. types of microscopes, insect life cycles, hematology, sperm/egg contribution to life).

[Shelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love sharing these children/teens biographies on scientist along with our science textbooks. A historical approach to science is a perfect way for students who are excited about history to also become more excited about science. This chapter book biography on Anton Van Leeuwenhoek, the first man to see microscopic life, is a nice addition to any middle/high school library or classroom.

[Ayla · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book taught me a lot about Antoni van Leeuwenhoek. I loved his eccentric behavior. This book teaches you everything you might need to know about the man and includes very detailed pictures of the things Antoni studied. I enjoyed it immensely and will now use "1/1000 times smaller than a louse's eye" as a measurement whenever it pleases me.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great living book to introduce an historical scientist that greatly influenced the scientific community. This book brought the man and his works to life for my children, and inspired them to look closer at different things in the world around them.

[Taher Haitami · Rating 3 out of 5]

Antoni van Leeuwenhoek: First to See Microscopic Life was one of the greatest scientists to use a microscope of his time. He was born on October 24, 1632 in the Dutch city of Delft. Antoni’s father made baskets to transport goods, while his n=mother came from a beer-brewing family. Antoni’s father died when he was only five years old, and his mother took care of him and his four sisters. She later married a painter named Jacob Moljn. Antoni went to school in a town twenty miles form Delft. There, he learned to read, write, and do math. At the age of sixteen, Antoni learned the cloth trade and worked at a cloth shop. He took the cloth mastery exam in six whereas; most people completed it in three years. He returned to Delft in 1654 and opened his own cloth shop. There, he married a woman named Barbara de Mei. Antoni was meticulous, and made sure his cloths were of quality by using a magnifying glass and looking at the fibers. Magnifying glasses are what sparked Antoni’s interest in microscopes. Antoni began building his own microscopes after studying science for a few years. He used these microscopes to look at bees and other small organisms. A scientist group called the Royal Society f London took interest in him and he started mailing them letters about what he found when he looked a certain objects. People were amazed since the microscopes made by Antoni were better than any other microscopes of the time. Antoni was also meticulous with his measures, and his descriptions were very accurate. He would get the size of an object by comparing it to a grain of sand. Many people often visited Antoni; some “claimed his ideas as their own”(Yount 95). He also met Peter the Great. Antoni showed him blood movement and even gave him a few microscopes. He had many because he made a new one almost every time he studied a new specimen. Antoni lived a long life, and people lost interest in microscopes. Microscopes did not become popular again until almost a hundred years after his death. He could be partially blamed for this because he never showed anyone how to make microscopes as good as his. In conclusion, Antoni van Leeuwenhoek greatly advanced the science of microscopes, and his passion for the world of “small animals” drove him to make the great scientific discoveries he made.

Although he might not have known it, Leeuwenhoek was reinventing an entire branch of science. By studying “small animals”, Antoni built the bedrock of life science. Even though life science does not always involve a microscope, a microscope is needed to fully understand how a certain variable affect an organism by seeing its cells. In science class, we learned about cells and how there were many more cells in a body than there were people on Earth. Leeuwenhoek was one of the first to see cells and “discovered ‘more kinds of invisible animals than the world before him knew there were invisible ones’” (Yout 53). Antoni Van Leeuwenhoek: First to See Microscopic Life can relate to a future career possibility because scientists use microscopes every day. In fact, microscopes are used now more than ever due to diseases like cancer and Ebola because people are trying to cure them. There are many other diseases that still have no cure and I would like to pursue a career in science and microscopes to observe cells and how they respond to different chemicals in order to find a cure. In conclusion, Leeuwenhoek contributed a lot to science and was driven by his love of “small animals”, and his interest was so genuine only true passion could have led to the discoveries he made.

Antoni Van Leeuwenhoek: First to See Microscopic Life is relatively easy and enriching. It is perfect for any middle school student who is interested in learning more about the first to see microscopic life for a project. Despite the lack of scientific information, this book can provide an idea of what Antoni’s lifestyle and research topics about his discoveries. This book is short and to the point, perfect for students doing a last-minute project. Overall, Antoni van Leeuwenhoek: First to See Microscopic life is an excellent read for middle school students because it provides a brief summary of Leeuwenhoek’s life and accomplishments.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

So there's this story, that my microbiology professor once told about Leeuwenhoek. He was the first real master of microscopy. Others had invented the microscope, others had used them to examine biological specimens, but then Leeuwenhoek came along and made better microscopes, made better observations, more observations, by orders of magnitude. Far surpassed any other work in the area before him and for decades after him. One of the discoveries he is most famous for is describing the "animalcules" living in the plaque on people's teeth.

The story that my professor told is that Leeuwenhoek was horrified to see what was living on his teeth, and after noticing that there were fewer living beasts after he drank coffee or tea, he took to drinking it hotter and hotter, until eventually the scalding liquid weakened his gums and he lost all his teeth.

It's a great story. And as we were working to land a grant for an exhibit about teeth and the mouth at Impression 5, I found myself telling the story at work. Until, as I was telling the story to two of the managers, it suddenly struck me that this story was possibly way too good to be actually true. So I started a quest to verify it. There was depressingly little on the internet, so I looked for books, and those were impossible as well! The only thing I could find an actual copy of was this, part of a series of scientist biographies that seem to be written for elementary school libraries. And no, I'm not judging. I couldn't put it down. Literally. I read most of this book on the walk to work despite the spectacle of walking around with a book clearly written for grade schoolers. And I don't care, because this book was awesome. For weeks I was insufferable, telling absolutely everyone the story of Leeuwenhoek and his microscopes. So much so that I spent some serious time considering looking harder for a "grown-up" biography, and if I couldn't find one WRITING MY OWN. Yeah. Anyone want to float me a contract on spec?

(And no, the "old toothless" story was not in this book. But this is a book for kids -- so I still consider the story neither confirmed nor denied.)

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book makes me think about all the microscope I've seen and how I have never thought how it was made and what was inside. So I was kind of surprised.

But I also wondered how some scientists couldn't find out something for over 50 years! Wouldn't you think that's strange? Well I would because 50 years is a lot for something that scientists could easily find.

I wonder how old microscopes could find the bacteria but some couldn't. Or I wonder if some scientists are doing it wrong because microscopes don't change from one another.

I wonder how Leeuwenhoek got really famous? Also I wonder why he almost never gives his microscope away. Couldn't he make a new one? Also if he gave Peter the Great (an emperor in Russia) a microscope wouldn't everyone want one? But on the other hand I thought that he gave Peter one because he mostly loved science, and it might be that Peter didn't have a microscope and his country really wanted one.

When I finished this book I had a lot of quetions in my mind because I thought I should search some by myself and find out just like the other scientists did.