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2023 is the 300th anniversary of the death of Leeuwenhoek. Join the Leeuwenhoek Year 2023 celebration!
Antony van Leeuwenhoek
1632 - 1723
Delft, the Dutch Republic
Portrait by Jan Verkolje
What you will find here |
Featuring |
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The life of Antony van Leeuwenhoek, cloth merchant and civil servant, citizen of Delft. Portraits of him. His homes and his legacy as well as a timeline of events in his life. |
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Almost a thousand documented events in the history of Delft and the life of Leeuwenhoek and his family, starting in 1246. |
On September 30, 1676, he was appointed curator of the estate of Vermeer's widow |
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Family |
How prosperous was his family?
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Civic career |
Public Service of Leeuwenhoek, his family, and his neighbors and colleagues |
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Scientific career |
How he constructed his microscopes
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Letters |
How many letters did Leeuwenhoek write?
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Delft in Holland |
Leeuwenhoek wrote about the day he made a startling and unexpected discovery:
In the year 1675, about half-way through September ..., I discovered living creatures in rain, which had stood but a few days in a new tub, that was painted blue within.
This observation provoked me to investigate this water more narrowly; and especially because these little animals were, to my eye, more than ten thousand times smaller than the little animal which Swammerdam has portrayed.
"Living creatures in rain water"? "Ten thousand times smaller"? They had always been there, but no human had ever seen them until that September day almost three hundred and fifty years ago.
- Who was this man with this chatty writing style about tiny animals?
- How did he manage to stumble onto this Eden, where he was Adam, surrounded by animals with no names?
- Why do we remember Antony van Leeuwenhoek today?
- What can he teach us about how to explore our own worlds?
What do you do when you see things that no one has ever seen before?
Wat doe je als je dingen ziet dat niemand ooit heeft gezien?
New Books
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Publisher's summary: Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723) saw what no one had seen before. Red blood cells, bacteria, sperm cells and much more. His microscopes were unsurpassed in simplicity and power. His discoveries stunned science. A celebrated researcher and fellow of the Royal Society, he was visited by the greats of the world, including Tsar Peter the Great. Unprejudiced, Antoni wandered around in the wonderful world of microbiology. Virologists who research COVID-19 actually stand on his shoulders. Invisible Life portrays a curious and driven researcher who went his own way. Who dealt with Delft market people just as easily as with magistrates. And who, as an autodidact, garnered admiration and was exposed to condescending criticism. Prometheus Uitgeverij € 27.50 Amazon € 27.50 |
From the publisher's website (trans. from Dutch): Antoni van Leeuwenhoek saw incredibly small animals and particles everywhere: in well water, semen, the contents of blackheads and everything else he looked at through his ingenious self-built microscopes. In the seventeenth century, for example, he opened the door to a new world full of creatures and structures that no one had ever seen, and he became a celebrated researcher. Even today, three centuries after his death, his work is admired. But at the same time, some of his ideas sound strange to us. Many, small and curious explains how his smart, wonderful and astonishing ideas fit in with his time, and how Van Leeuwenhoek pointed nature research in an unexpected direction. Spectrumboeken € 24.99 |
