390 YEARS FROM THE BIRTH OF ANTHONY VAN LEEVENHOEK: DUTCH SCIENTIST, INVENTOR OF THE MICROSCOPE

Full Text

RELEVANCE

Exactly 390 years ago, Anthony Van Leeuwenhoek was born - the famous Dutch scientist, inventor of microscopes, discoverer of the microcosm, one of the founders of microbiology, and also a full and equal member of the Royal Society of London since 1680. He was one of the first to see and describe bacteria. It was this achievement of his that was recognized as one of the most important discoveries in the history of mankind [2].

PURPOSE

To get acquainted with the biography of a famous scientist, a pioneer of microbiology and cytology, and the history of his creation of self-made microscopes, which allowed him to look at the mysterious world of "small animals" [3].

METHODS

Study Design
The study is an analysis of the literature data on the life and discoveries of Anthony van Leeuwenhoek. The results of this work were presented taking into account a review of material from open archives, as well as published in various publications. In this study, a search, descriptive and comparative method was used [4].
Eligibility Criteria
A selection was made of such literature, which in detail and accurately covered the life of this great man and the history of his discoveries.
Terms and Conditions
Consideration by the authors of the information that was obtained in the course of the study was carried out under the supervision of scientific supervisors. Literature on this subject was found not only in Internet sources, but also in the university library and the scientific electronic library e-library.
Study duration
The study was conducted from December 2021 to January 2022.
Description of medical intervention
No medical interventions were performed during the study.
Main outcome of the study
The main outcome of this study is the analysis and evaluation of the contribution of Antonia van Leeuwenhoek to the development of microbiology and the significance of his discovery for the world scientific community.
Additional study outcomes
Additional goals and objectives were not set in this study.
Subgroup Analysis
Subgroup analysis was not performed.
Outcome Registration Methods
The results of this study were recorded in the process of reviewing the literature data on this topic.
Statistical analysis
Statistical analysis was not performed.

RESULTS

Anthony Van Leeuwenhoek (October 24, 1632 - August 26, 1723) was an outstanding Dutch scientist and microbiologist. He was born into a poor family, his father was engaged in the manufacture of baskets, and his mother was a housewife. At the age of six he lost his father. After this event, the mother decides to send her son to study at the gymnasium, by that time Anthony already showed great promise and showed his outstanding talents. At the age of fifteen, after several years of study, Leeuwenhoek decides to leave school and go to Amsterdam to study trading. Six years later, after mastering the trade craft, he returns to his homeland and opens his own manufactory. It was then, in the period of his youth, that Anthony learned the unusual art of making magnifying glasses and achieved considerable success in it. In his free time, he liked to grind optical glasses, making various lenses, some of which gave an increase of up to 300 times. It is worth noting that such magnifying glasses at that time were not available even to the progressive scientific community. Despite the small size of these lenses, Leeuwenhoek's observations were remarkably accurate.
And a few years later, closer to the beginning of the 80s of the seventeenth century, Anthony Van Leeuwenhoek made his greatest discoveries, which had a huge impact not only on biology and medicine, but also on all other sciences of that time. He first discovered microorganisms. To report their discovery, he provided his drawings, in which it was easy to recognize various forms of bacteria. He dubbed them "little animals". “The smallest of these tiny animals is a thousand times smaller than the eye of an adult louse,” Leeuwenhoek wrote about his discovery.
This great naturalist also contributed to the development of zoology, for the first time he sketched in detail the structure of the eyes of insects and muscle fibers, made a fairly complete description of a number of rotifers and the process of hydra budding. One of his discoveries is also considered quite significant: in the seminal fluid, he first saw spermatozoa, which he also sketched. Even before the cell theory, formulated only in the middle of the 19th century, Leeuwenhoek asserted with complete certainty that the cell is the unit of reproduction of organisms.
His merit in the field of biology is also that Anthony was the first to discover ciliates and described many of their species, he also described the structure of the fibers of the lens of the eye, the scales of the epidermis of the skin, and was the first to discover erythrocytes. Anthony van Leeuwenhoek, using his unique lenses, saw the capillaries and blood circulating in the smallest blood vessels. Leeuwenhoek first noticed that blood is not a homogeneous liquid, as his contemporaries thought at that time, he noted that it is “a living stream in which a great many tiny particles move”, this is how he first saw and described erythrocytes and other blood cells.
The objects observed by him in a microscope, Leeuwenhoek sketched, and noted his observations in letters that he sent for more than fifty years to the Royal Society of London, as well as to some prominent scientists of that time. For the first time, one of his letters was published in Philosophical Notes, the journal of the Royal Society of London.
It is also worth mentioning that at first the reliability of his discoveries was called into question, since until that time nothing was known about the existence of single-celled organisms. Therefore, these observations were met with some skepticism. To verify them, a group of scientists was sent to Delft, who confirmed the authenticity of all discoveries. Some time later, to be more precise on February 8, 1680, Leeuwenhoek was elected a full member of the Royal Society of London.
Throughout his long life, Anthony van Leeuwenhoek was engaged in the modernization of his microscopes, he replaced lenses in them, invented special devices to improve them, and constantly changed the conditions of his experiments [5].

DISCUSSION

As a result of the study, we found out that Leeuwenhoek made a great contribution to the development of such important sciences as microbiology and cytology. Thanks to his discoveries, prominent scientists of that time turned their attention to the enormous possibilities that opened up when using special optical instruments. Microscopes, created by the hands of the master, made it possible to see the world hidden from the eyes of ordinary people, and to learn some of the most secret secrets of nature.
This study makes it clear that the names of outstanding and world-famous researchers and their important contribution to science should not be forgotten [6].

CONCLUSION

From all of the above, we can conclude that at all times it is very important to refer to the past, to the life history and work of these people. Acquaintance with the biographies of famous scientists remains one of the important elements in the education of medical students and their preparation for future professional activities [7].

 

About the authors

Anton. Vadimovich. Silkin

Воронежский государственный медицинский университет им. Н.Н. Бурденко

Email: anton.silkin.99@mail.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-2238-5808
SPIN-code: 4207-6665
Russian Federation

Andrei. Andreevich. Klyukin

Воронежский государственный медицинский университет им. Н.Н. Бурденко

Email: flowye@mail.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0003-2257-3216
SPIN-code: 4657-7314

Angelina Araikovna Abramyan

Воронежский государственный медицинский университет им. Н.Н. Бурденко

Author for correspondence.
Email: linamia2000@gmail.com
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-9616-4362
SPIN-code: 5881-2587

References