Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (layu-wen-hook)
AKA the
Father of Sperm. Born
October 24,
1632 in Delft,
Holland. An unlikely scientist, he came from a family of tradesman, had no formal education and little money. Despite this, he went on to make some of the more important discoveries in the
history of
biology. Among his discoveries:
Leeuwenhoek is known to have made over 500
microscopes of which fewer than ten are around today. Often called the "Father of the Microscope" even though
compound microscopes had been around for nearly 40 years before Leeuwenhoek was born.
In
1698, he demonstrated
circulation in the
capillaries of an
eel to
Tsar Peter the Great of
Russia.
Died August 30, 1723.
Source: http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/leeuwenhoek.html