Welcome!

doug — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 14:14:06 +0000

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
	Biography 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.	The Leeuwenhoek name: How to pronounce it Where Leeuwenhoek's biographers say he lived
	Chronology 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 A week later, he wrote the letter that made him famous
	Family Over a hundred close relatives of Leeuwenhoek. Timelines of the documented facts about their lives and property holdings. Featuring the half dozen most influential women in his life. Grouped by family: Leeuwenhoek, de Meij, Swalmius, de Molijn, van den Berch, and Hogenhouck.	How prosperous was his family? His daughter Maria
	Civic career Leeuwenhoek's education and training. How he supported his family as a merchant, City Court official, and City inspector of liquid imports and exports.	Public Service of Leeuwenhoek, his family, and his neighbors and colleagues Were his jobs sinecures?
	Scientific career A brief accounting of some of the aspects of Leeuwenhoek's science, his lenses and people who influenced him, other microscopists, philosophers, and members of the Royal Society.	How he constructed his microscopes His cabinet of wonders
	Letters Leeuwenhoek wrote only letters, hundreds of them, including 285 with scientific observations. These 285 letters, his complete scientific output, are our only direct access to his work and ideas. Divided into seven periods according to how he self-published them. How to find your way among the various editions and translations.	How many letters did Leeuwenhoek write? Why did Leeuwenhoek publish his own letters?
	Delft in Holland Life in the heart of the world's most prosperous and learned country. Views and maps, timelines of Delft's history. How Delft was governed and Leeuwenhoek's role in it. The buildings in his neighborhood. His contemporaries. The property in and around Delft owned by Leeuwenhoek and members of his family. Life in Leeuwenhoek's Holland through the eyes of its painters.	How prominent was his family? Leeuwenhoek served as his neighborhood's trash supervisor

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

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

Antoni van Leeuwenhoek: Groots in het Kleine

Eye of the Beholder

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Lens on Leeuwenhoek

Welcome!

Antony van Leeuwenhoek

1632 - 1723Delft, the Dutch Republic

What you will find here

Featuring

New Books

1632 - 1723
Delft, the Dutch Republic