Leeuwenhoek made a variety of microscopes by grinding his own lenses. Some could magnify by a factor of 270. He noticed tiny single-cell creatures in pond water and called them ‘animalcules’.

It was around this time — in 1671, specifically — that Anton van Leeuwenhoek, a Dutch fabric merchant in Delft, developed a new but far less ornate microscope with smaller, simpler and, ironically, ...

Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, the person considered to be the world's first microbiologist, was born on this day in 1632. Van Leeuwenhoek used his invention of the first single-cell microscope to ...

In 1677 Anton van Leeuwenhoek, Dutch scientist and inventor of the first compound microscope, finally gave into peer pressure from his colleagues and used the tool to examine his own semen.

Van Leeuwenhoek's own interest in lensmaking stemmed from his desire to more clearly see the quality of the thread he used in his draper business, and when he learned of the wonders of microscopy ...

Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, the person considered to be the world's first microbiologist, was born on this day in 1632. Van Leeuwenhoek used his invention of the first single-cell microscope to ...