At a Glance

Where

Delft is about 20 miles south of Amsterdam
Delft
 
The Netherlands lies in the low country along the northwestern coast of continental Europe about 200 miles (320 km) east-northeast of London, across the North Sea. Delft is about 20 miles south of Amsterdam.
 

When

The Batavia

Golden Age
 
In the 1600's, the Dutch Republic was the most prosperous and most powerful country in Europe economically, especially in world-wide trade.
 

What

bacteria

The Microscopic World
 
Everything that Leeuwenhoek saw, he was the first human ever to see: protozoa, bacteria, sperm, and red-blood cells, among many examples.

rotifer, a protozoan


How

specimen stuck on the pin

Tiny Single-Lens
Magnifying Glasses
 
These little hand-made devices, most often brass, all a little different, easily fit into Leeuwenhoek's palm. With a lens so small, about two millimeters in diameter, he was able to discover a whole new world that no one even suspected.

your eye has to get very close to the tiny lens