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.
In this essay, I will be explaining the unexpected signs of life that Leeuwenhoek found in a single droplet of rainwater which he described as ‘little animals’. He had witnessed bacteria and protozoa, laying the foundations for the sciences of bacteriology and protozoology. Leeuwenhoek also found ‘little animals’ in other bodies of water, including lakes, and on the surface of pepper and teeth. Additionally, with regards to the essay, I will also begin to identify the new and useful information established in Leeuwen...
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...e wrote in October 9, 1676: "Observations concerning various little Animals, in great numbers discover'd by Mr. Leeuwenhoek in Rain- Well- Sea- and Snow-water; as also in water wherein Pepper had lain infused."
Leeuwenhoek was persistent on working and writing his observations until even moments before approaching the time of his death. After he died on August 30, 1723, a letter was written to the Royal society by the pastor of the New Church at Delft who stated that:
“... Antony van Leeuwenhoek considered that what is true in natural philosophy can be most fruitfully investigated by the experimental method, supported by the evidence of the senses; for which reason, by diligence and tireless labour he made with his own hand certain most excellent lenses, with the aid of which he discovered many secrets of Nature, now famous throughout the whole philosophical World.”
...bodies.', in Turner, R.C, Scaife,R.G (ed.) Bog bodies: new discoveries and new perspectives. London: British museum Press, pp. 168-182.
Bragg, Melvyn, On Giants' Shoulders: Great Scientists and Their Discoveries from Archimedes to DNA. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1998.
Thomas’s self-appointed title of “biology watcher” seems, on the surface, unfitting for a man whose understanding of cellular interaction is so intimate. He is able to confer with nature and develop a profound connection with it; essentially, he is able to “touch” it. But the sense of touch, in Thomas’s mind, is not separate from the faculties of vision, hearing, smelling, or tasting; it encompasses all of them. The “watcher,” or for that matter, the “listener” or “taster,” is capable of becoming wholly immersed in his subject, no restrictions limiting the extent of his observations. It is for this reason that Thomas can expound the workings of an ant colony and delve beyond what is visible to the eye; he is capable of connecting with that colony on a variety of levels, part of a relationship that serves to inform and “edit” conceptions he holds about the workings of the human world.
Linton, Alan. 1982. Microbes, Man and Animals: The Natural History of Microbial Interactions. John Wiley & Sons. 342pp
Apfeldorf’s article “Uncovering a Tiny World” discusses Hooke’s book which is known for its microscopic illustrations of insects and microbes that Hooke had drawn as he viewed them under the microscope. His elaborate drawings of tiny objects and insects were the scientific evidence that supported his claims of the significant value of the microscope to science and the many ways it could be used. The book also contained a description of how to make a powerful microscope with a spherical lens, much like Leeuwenhoek’s glass pearls. Leeuwenhoek traveled to England that same year and is believed to have obtained a copy of Hooke’s book and
Comparing the Light and Electron Microscope In this essay I am going to be comparing the light and electron microscope, I will look at the advantages and disadvantages of each microscope and then analyse my findings to see if one is better than the other. The light, or optical microscope as it is also known was invented in the 17th century, it has been refined in many ways over the years but it is essentially still the same. The light microscope works by; light rays from a light source beneath the stage are through to glass lenses in series. The two lenses are called the objective lens and the ocular (eyepiece) lens.
The Primordial Soup Hypothesis was proposed by biochemist Alexander Oparin in 1924. He claimed that life started in a warm body of water due to a combination of chemicals which led to form amino acids then to form proteins. The evidence that he used was that organic compounds may have endured a sequence of reactions that created more and more complex molecules. An experiment conducted to test this theory was the Miller-Urey Experiment done by Stanley Miller and Harold Urey.
The topic for my essay is going to talking about Chemistry and Technology, and has a focused on the invention and influence on the microscope. Chemistry has helped people look at technology in a different way, such as by the way we use it and how easy it is to find data faster. Technology has also changed Chemistry several ways. Some examples are finding new viruses and finding cures to prevent diseases from spreading around the world and.
Robert Van Leeuwenhoek was a prominent scientist of his time. He could arguably be considered an absolute genius of his time period. Nobody was able to reproduce his findings for nearly a century later. That is a huge span of time, showing just how advanced his scientific methods truly were. This is an example of Thomas Kuhn’s paradigm shift. Kuhn came up with the idea of paradigm shift in a sudden moment of eureka. Kuhn readily challenged the ideas of other scientists and the way science ought to be learned and processed (Wienberger). Leeuwenhoek is a very interesting scientist to study in the fact that he had no formal institutional education. However, he did spend a majority of his childhood with his Uncle who was a lawyer. This small detail
Life, it might be argued, is the distinguishing feature of all organisms and may most usefully be thought of as involving various kinds of complex systems of organization providing individual organisms with the ability to make use of those energy sources available to them for both self maintenance and reproduction. Underlying this deceptively persuasive definition, however, lie those persistent traditional problems inherent in the search for an essential, distinctive substance characteristic of all forms of life. Additionally, as evolution theory makes clear, there is the problem of borderline instances, organisms of which it is not easy to say whether or not they may be defined as being alive. One such case is that of the virus.
Thomas, Lewis. The Medusa and the Snail: More Notes of a Biology Watcher. New York: Viking, 1979.
I think that according to Galileo an individual gains knowledge of nature threw observation. Galileo believed no one really went out into the world as he did and used the senses that God gave us when we where created, to observe the physical world. He was a very persistent individual and was always looking further into what he observed our read. Many people went along with how he gained knowledge of nature but the few who did not tried to find other ways to damage his beliefs and ideas.
Stumpf, Samuel Enoch, and James Fieser. The Origin of All Our Ideas in Experience. 1690.Philosophy: History and Problems. 7th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2008. 194. Print.
Shapin, Steven, and Simon Schaffer. Leviathan and the Air-Pump: Hobbes, Boyle, and the Experimental Life. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1985.
In the 1920’s, the discovery that bacteria had a completely different cell structure from other organisms was established. Edouard Chatton recognized that the bacterial cell only...