So, who was Anton van Leeuwenhoek?
Anton van Leeuwenhoek was born in Delft, Holland, on October 24th 1632. His father was a basket maker and his mother came from a family of brewers. His formal education appears to have lasted a short time, as he is listed as having only attended a school in Warmond. At the age of 16, Anton moved away from Delft to serve an apprenticeship as a linen draper. He came back to Delft in 1654 and established his own drapery business. As part of his work in this business, Leeuwenhoek used a lens to examine cloth for quality. This lens magnified things around three times. He also used the lens to look at objects in nature, such as insects and finger prints. What else did Leeuwenhoek do? Anton van Leeuwenhoek had a great interest in lenses and had learned to grind his own. He was not content with the magnification of only three times and set about making more powerful lenses. These lenses were actually very small, being about 3 mm in diameter, but were more powerful than those made by anyone els
