Antonie van Leeuwenhoek

One warm day in May 1698, Mr.. on the Grand Canal near the city of Delft in Holland stopped yacht. On board, it got old, but very cheerful person. All kind of talked about it that led him here is not the usual case. Meet him walking along the deck of a man of gigantic stature, surrounded by his retinue. In broken Dutch giant welcomed bent in obeisance guest. This happened acquaintance of the Russian tsar Peter I a resident of Delft - Dutchman Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (1632 - 1723).

What prompted the curious to stop Peter from his yacht DelftaN Before the Russian Tsar had long heard rumors about the amazing cases this person. Suffice it to say that in 1679, Mr.. Leeuwenhoek was elected a member of the Royal Society of London. In those years, it brings together scientists and physicians and was considered the most authoritative scientific center in the world. Its members could only be distinguished scientists. But Leeuwenhoek was a self-taught scientist. He has not received systematic education and has achieved outstanding success only because of his extraordinary talent and hard work.

Almost 50 years Leeuwenhoek sent to the Royal Society long letters. In them he talked about such a truly extraordinary things, that famous scientists in powdered wigs could only wonder. These letters, first published in scientific journals, and then, in 1695, were published in Latin in a single large book called 'Secrets of Nature, open Antony Leeuwenhoek using microscopes'.

At that time biology was at a very low level of development. Were not yet known basic laws governing the development and life of plants and animals. Scientists knew little about the structure and functions of the organism of animals and humans. Therefore, each Supervisory naturalist, has talent and dedication, opens a wide field of activity.

Leeuwenhoek was one of the most prominent researchers, discoverers.

He first saw the blood circulates in the smallest blood vessels. Discovered that the blood - is not a homogeneous liquid was thought by his contemporaries, but a living stream, which moves a great many fine particles. Now they are called erythrocytes.

It is important to both the opening Leeuwenhoek: in semen the first time he saw a sperm - they are small cells with tails that are penetrating into the egg, fertilize it, thus creating a new organism.

Looking under a microscope constructed of thin plates of meat, Leeuwenhoek discovered that the meat, or, more precisely, muscle, consists of microscopic volokonets. The muscles of limbs and trunk (skeletal muscle) are composed of poperechnoischerchennyh volokonets, . and why they were called striated, . in contrast to the smooth muscle, . which are in most internal organs (intestines, etc.) and in the walls of blood vessels,
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But the most surprising and the most important discovery is not Leeuwenhoek. He opened the curtain in the hitherto unknown world of enormous creatures - microorganisms that play a huge role in nature and in human life.

Some of the most insightful minds in the past expressed wild guesses about the existence of some kind of tiny, invisible to the naked eye creatures, guilty in the emergence and spread of contagious diseases.

Leeuwenhoek was the first person who saw the microbes. This is a remarkable discovery he could commit only because his hands made such magnifying glass, which no one before him and could not imagine. Of course, this was not what is called a microscope. Sophisticated devices, consisting of several magnifying glasses, called microscopes were invented much later.

'Microsoft' Leeuwenhoek - is essentially a very strong magnifying glass. It increased to 300 times. Linzochki, magnifying glass Leeuwenhoek, were very small - the size of a large pea. Using them was difficult. A tiny piece of glass in a frame on a long handle had to apply close to the eye. But despite this, observation of the talented and industrious Dutchman different for that time, high accuracy.

Antonie van Leeuwenhoek was born, and almost all the time he lived in Delft, Holland. All his life he was engaged in the most modest work: first selling textiles and later served in the City Hall of Delft.

Even in his youth Leeuwenhoek learned to make magnifying glass, fascinated by this case and it has reached an amazing art.

Here's what he wrote Leeuwenhoek in the Royal Society about his observations of the bloom with the teeth:. 'With the greatest surprise, I saw under the microscope, an incredible number of small animals, and, moreover, in such a tiny piece of the above matter, that it was almost impossible to believe if you do not see with my own eyes'.

Now, after 250 years, we know very well as a huge number of microbes may be: because they are so small that in one cubic millimeter of fluid is placed a few billion bacteria. A pathogens (viruses) of communicable diseases such as influenza, which are smaller than bacteria, more.

They can be seen only in the electron microscope, which allows to observe objects enlarged a hundred thousand times and more.

Since Leeuwenhoek to the present day science of micro-organisms - microbiology - was a long and glorious path. She grew up in a branched area of knowledge and is of great importance for medicine, agriculture, industry, knowledge of the laws of nature and all the practical activities of human. Tens of thousands of researchers all over the world tirelessly exploring vast and varied world of microscopic creatures.

And they all revered Leeuwenhoek - famous Dutch biologist, discoverer of the world of microorganisms.