Transcript Anton van Leeuwenhoek

Who am I?
Anton van
Leeuwenhoek
Who is Leeuwenhoek?
• Watch this video!
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePnb
kNVdPio
The Man of Fabric
Van Leeuwenhoek was born in Holland
in 1632. At the age of 16 he became
an apprentice in a shop that sold cloth.
Leeuwenhoek wanted to be able to
examine fabric closely because he
wanted to count the threads in cloth
to determine its quality. So, he built a
magnifying lens to do so.
Blood Cells
He studied
microorganisms through
his simple microscopes
and had an artist draw
what he observed. During
his studies, van
Leeuwenhoek discovered
bacteria, protists, blood
cells, and many other
types of microscopic life.
Here are a few close up
images of red blood cells.
The Toothbrush
In September of 1673, van
Leeuwenhoek investigated the
plaque on his teeth and on the
teeth of two men who had never
cleaned their teeth in their
entire lives. He reported to the
Royal Society of London that one
of the men had “an unbelievably
great company of living
animalcules, a-swimming more
nimbly than any I had ever seen
up to this time. . . Moreover, the
other animalcules were in such
enormous numbers, that all the
water. . . seemed to be alive." Ew.
Questions
• Share with your partner the most
interesting thing you learned about
Anton van Leeuwenhoek. Tell your
partner why you thought that fact was
neat. (TNT)
• How do you think our lives would be
different if we did not have
microscopes today? (NB it!)