Antonie van Leeuwenhoek

It is true that Antonie van Leeuwenhoek was involved in the development of the miscroscope, but it is at best an exaggeration to say that he "developed" it (implying that he did it all, or at least the better part of it, himself).

Wikipedia gives the date for the invention of the microscope as "around 1620". "The inventor", it continues, "is unknown although many claims have been made over the years." Wikipedia names Hans Lippershey (1570–1619), Zacharias Jansen (c.1580–c.1635) and Cornelis Drebbel (1572–1633) as people around whom claims have been made. It also notes that "Galileo Galilei ... seems to have found after 1610 that he could close focus his telescope to view small objects and, after seeing a compound microscope built by Drebbel exhibited in Rome in 1624, built his own improved version."

The word "microscope" was coined, according to Wikipedia, by Giovanni Faber, for the compound microscope that Galileo submitted to the Accademia dei Lincei in 1625 (Galileo had called it the "occhiolino", or "little eye").

Antonie van Leeuwenhoek was not born until 1632. Although Wikipedia describes him as being "commonly known as 'the Father of Microbiology', and one of the first microscopists and microbiologists", it is clear from the above that the microscope had been around for some time before he actually got his hands on one. His contribution was to "[achieve] up to 300 times magnification using a simple single lens microscope ... [by sandwiching] a very small glass ball lens between the holes in two metal plates riveted together, and with an adjustable–by–screws needle attached to mount the specimen." Wikipedia describes this as "a significant contribution".

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