No one would ever expect a Dutch fabric merchant to be the first to discover some of the most abundant organisms in the world. Europe was in the midst of a Scientific Revolution as part of the Renaissance. At this time, new scientific discoveries were being made with the rise of scientists such as Galileo and Newton. Another prominent name in this revolution was Antoni van Leeuwenhoek. Leeuwenhoek first worked in a fabric shop in Delft, Holland in the mid-1600s. Leeuwenhoek used his microscope to observe almost anything he could think of to have a better understanding of what he was seeing. Antoni van Leeuwenhoek contributed to microbiology because he developed the first simple microscope, was the first to observe microorganisms, and was a pioneer in anatomy.
Leeuwenhoek’s greatest skill was grinding lenses for the simple design of his microscope. Leeuwenhoek used the money from the government positions to which he was appointed to pursue his hobby of lens grinding. At this time, microscopes were compound microscopes, containing more than one lens, which distorted the image and had low resolution. The curve of the lens affects the intensity of magnification, meaning higher magnification needs a greater curve. Leeuwenhoek achieved this with a smaller lens with a longer radius of the lens's curvature. The quality and resolution of his lenses were known as the best of the era.
Using his lenses, Leeuwenhoek was able to develop powerful microscopes to observe specimens, such as small insects. Leeuwenhoek’s microscope was made up of one biconvex lens positioned between two metal plates. A sequence of pins helped keep the specimen on the microscope in place. Liquid specimens could not be observed because the pin could only hold dry or ...
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...iscovery of the bacteria cells in 1683, he was able to disprove the theory. He showed that the male insects would fertilize the egg then lay by the female, which showed creature reproduced by themselves, not via spontaneous generation. This changed the way people thought about biology and reproduction in the world. Leeuwenhoek’s explanations of the body and reproduction of insects were huge advancements in microbiology.
Anatomy, microorganisms, and Leeuwenhoek’s microscope were all used to further advance the science of microbiology. The first simple microscope set the standard for others to observe microorganisms. Discovery of microorganisms paved a path for a new study of different life forms. Looking at the way the body functioned changed how the world had originally viewed it. Without Antoni van Leeuwenhoek’s discoveries, microbiology might not even exist today.
There is no greater example of this than the change of thought amongst people regarding Miasma. Until this time it was a long held belief that Miasma (polluted air) was the cause of illness. This shifting in the public’s conviction shows how both science and medicine can impact society. Consequently this shift in knowledge occurred as the result of one of history’s most significant contributions to science, the discovery of fermentation. Rosenberg identifies Pasteur’s discovery as one of the defining elements to the eventual identification and eradication of cholera. Rosenberg plainly outlines the changes occurring in the field of science and from his writing it could be assumed that this was also the first introduction to the ontological theory of disease (external source of illness). Pasteur’s fermentation experiments were occurring at the same time as the Cholera epidemic and his results showed that spontaneous generation was not to blame but instead a microscopic bacteria. Fungi as a source of illness among plants, animals, and humans was already widely accepted, as a result the causation of disease took a change of course and the foundation of Germ Theory was
Most of these medical advances were a result and were an influence of World War I. Probably one of the most important medical advances was the discovery of penicillin in 1928 by a Scottish, microbiologist named Alexander Fleming, he had actually accidently discovered it, when he noticed that a bacteria culture he had been growing, had stopped, he realized that it had been contaminated by a rare form of mold called Penicillin and that it had killed the bacteria.
Hans Spemann was the next person to make an important discovery in 1902. He attempted to split apart a two-celled embryo of a salamander. He accomplished this task by using a baby’s hair to split th...
Francis Bacon ~ used the scientific method to conduct experiments, he is known as a father of modern science for this.
Andreas Vesalius was well known for his dissections in the 1500’s. Growing up in Brussels he was captivated by the anatomy of animals. Throughout his childhood Andreas dissected many small animals trying to uncover life’s mystery. This curiosity regarding anatomy came very naturally, due to the fact that he was born into a family of physicians. Vesalius started his formal education at the University of Louvain; then traveled to Paris to continue his studies in medicine. During his life time, Vesalius was an accomplished physician, and professor of anatomy. He also received his degree as a doctor of medicine at the age of twenty-two. Vesalius writings and teachings set the foundation of anatomy we know today, hence why he received the title; founder of modern anatomy.
A remarkable breakthrough in medicine occurred in the late 1800s through the work of Louis Pasteur. Pasteur's experiments showed that bacteria reproduce like other living things and travel from place to place. Using the results of his findings, he developed pasteurization, which is the process of heating liquids to kill bacteria and prevent fermentation. He also produced an anthrax vaccine as well as a way to weaken the rabies virus. After studying Pasteur's work, Joseph Lister developed antisepsis, which is the process of killing disease-causing germs. In 1865 before an operation, he cleansed a leg wound first with carbolic acid, and performed the surgery with sterilized (by heat) instruments. The wound healed, and the patient survived. Prior to surgery, the patient would've needed an amputation. However, by incorporating these antiseptic procedures in all of his surgeries, he decreased postoperative deaths. The use of antiseptics eventually helped reduce bacterial infection not only in surgery but also in childbirth and in the treatment of battle wounds. Another man that made discoveries that reinforced those of Pasteur's was Robert Koch. Robert Koch isolated the germ that causes tuberculosis, identified the germ responsible for Asiatic cholera, and developed sanitary measures to prevent disease. (1)
2). As a result, this scientific experiment changed the relationship of humankind and nature by foreseeing the modification of DNA of bacteria, yeast, plants, and animals to discover new medicines and to provide solutions for inherited diseases (Le Vine, 1999, p. 2).
Antonie van Leeuwenhoek was a scientist and was best known for his contributions to microbiology; he received the title of "the Father of Microbiology” and dedicated many years of his life to improve the microscope in order to attain incredible heights of precision of the microscopic lenses. He produced magnifications from up to 275X, with a resolving power of up to 1.4 µm. Moreover, he presented his findings from the material of animals and vegetables in extraordinary detail as well as being the first to observe a glimpse of bacteria that he found in water; the first illustration of the bacteria is demonstrated in a representation by Leeuwenhoek in the 1683 “Philosophical Transactions” publication. In this publication, Leeuwenhoek wrote to the Royal Society about his observations of the inside of an old man’s mouth. He found "an unbelievably great company of living animalcules [Latin for ‘little animals’], a-swimming more nimbly than any I had ever seen up to this time. The biggest sort... bent their body into curves in going forwards. . . Moreover, the other animalcules were in such enormous numbers, that all the water... seemed to be alive." These were among the first observations on living bacteria ever recorded.
Because of his discoveries and eighteen years of experience teaching at Padua, Galileo grew more and more famous, and his salary had almost tripled. Galileo caught word one summer afternoon of a mechanism that existed in the Netherlands that could make distant objects appear closer. Intrigued by the idea, he decided to make one of these contraptions of his own. To do this, Galileo used spectacle lenses, which at first only magnified things two to three times their size, but Galileo then improved this to eight or nine times their size
Although telescopes has been around for several hundreds of years, there has been great discrepancy as to who invented it first. Here is one authors opinion. Lippershey was a Dutch spectacle marker during the early 17th century (approximately 1600). He was one of the first who created the "looker" (now called telescope) by placing two pieces of lenses together. The discovery that placing lenses together can magnify images were made by children who took Lippershey's spectacles and looked at a distant church tower.
The term “microbiology” refers to the branch of study that deals with microorganisms. Microbiology is extremely important in today’s time for the crucial information that the study provides. Human’s have had a long and cruel history of disease and sickness, for example the bubonic plague, but microbiology gives scientists the ability to observe, study, and prevent sickness like the bubonic plague to ever happen again. At the center of microbiology lies the bacterial cell, one that differs from those of a plant or animal because it lacks a nucleus and membrane-bound organelles which, in turn are traded for pili, flagella, and in some cases a cell capsule. Bacteria that are capable of causing illness or disease are called pathogens, pathogens work by releasing toxins in the body or directly damaging the host’s cells. An article by Lise Wilkinson explains that the earliest categorizations of bacterial cells first occurred in the late eighteen-hundreds to the early nineteen-hundreds by scientists (at the time) O. Muller and C. Ehrenburg (Wilkinson, 2004). The observation and identification of unknown bacteria that emerge is crucial because these new bacteria might be pathogenic and cause illness so it is very important that the bacteria is identified as soon as possible in order to either prevent the upcoming illness or treat it. While the common person is unable to identify if they are carrying bacteria (which is very likely), specialized tests that are ran in a lab can identify different types of bacteria and can even help
During the nineteenth century, Charles Darwin wrote On the Origin of Species (Farah 627). For many years, this book has sparked controversy with a couple of religions. Nevertheless, Darwin’s theory of evolution is taught in many high school biology classes. Another advancement in science was the discovery of X-rays in 1895 by Wilhelm K. Roentgen (Farah 628). This development helped doctors look inside a person without having to make an incision.
Frederick douglas, born in Hale, England in 1879, was a bacteriologist who made the first progressive movement in gaining knowledge related to the structure of DNA. In 1928 he reported one of the first experiments suggesting that bacteria are capable of transferring genetic information via transformation. In his experiment, formally known as Griffith’s experiment, he used two strains of Streptococcus Pneumoniae (pneumococcus) bacteria to infect mice. The two types were type III-S and type II-R. Type III-S had a protective capsule that could shield it from the immune system of the host. In the experiment, bacteria from the type III-S strain were killed with heat and then the remains were added to th II-R strain bacteria. Although neither strain alone was harmful to the mice, the combination was lethal. when looking at the bloodwork of the dead mice. Griffith found live strains of both bacteria. He concluded that type III-S transformed into type II-R. This experiment showed that traits could be transferred from one organism to another. it was one of the first experiments to suggest that DNA was the genetic code because heat denatures protein, thus ruling out the possibility of protein being the genetic code. At this time, DNA was still poorly...
Through the use of the microscope and the discovery of DNA, there were many advances in anatomy and physiology throughout the twentieth century to the present time. However, the early discoveries by Erasistratus and Herophilus as well as the others created a foundation for the future scientists to base their research off of, which impacted where we are today in the field and contributed to the great advances that have been made in anatomy and physiology.
The origin of the biological term cell came from Robert Hooke in 1662. He observed tiny compartments in the cork of a mature tree and gave them the Latin name “cellulae”, which translates into “small rooms”. In the late 1680s, Anton Van Leeuwenhoek was the first scientist to actually lay eyes on a cell. Before, there had been theories of “cells” but no one had the technology to see something so microscopic yet. Van Leeuwenhoek ran a draper 's shop and wanted to see the quality of the thread, better than the magnifying lenses available at that time. Therefore, he began to develop an interest in lens-making, with an interest already in microscopes and a familiarity with glass