Antonie van Leewenhoek

“The Father of Microbiology”

Antonie van Leeuwenhoek
 Antonie van Leeuwenhoek was born
in Delft, Dutch Republic, on October 24,
1632. On 4 November he was baptized
as Thonis.

 His father, Philips Antonisz van Leeuwenhoek,

was a basket maker who died when Antonie
was only five years old.
 His mother, Margaretha (Bel van den Berch), came from a
well-to-do brewer's family, and remarried Jacob Jansz Molijn,
a painter.

 Antonie had four older sisters, Margriet, Geertruyt, Neeltje,

and Catharina.

 He attended school in Warmond for a short time before being

sent to live in Benthuizen with his uncle, an attorney. 

 At the age of 16 he became a bookkeeper's apprentice at a

linen-draper's shop in Amsterdam
Contributions
Improvement of Microscope
Made more than 500 optical

lenses.
He also created at least 25

single-lens microscopes, of
differing types.
Van Leeuwenhoek's main discoveries are:

 the infusoria (protists in
modern zoological classification), in 1674
 the bacteria, (e.g., large Selenomonads from

the human mouth), in 1676

 the vacuole of the cell
 the spermatozoa in 1677
 the banded pattern of muscular fibers, in

1682
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