Antony van Leeuwenhoek – The First Microbe Hunter

Antony van Leeuwenhoek (1632 – 1723) was a Dutch haberdasher who rose to fame not as a cloth merchant but as a lay Christian scientist who had a fascination with the microscope and the tiny unseen world it allowed him to view. Leeuwenhoek started his study of God’s smallest creatures as a hobby while in his thirties. He spent the rest of his life finding great joy in discovering a tiny unseen world, through his homemade microscopes, that he felt glorified God as much as looking at the stars did through a telescope.

Leeuwenhoek, while not discovering the microscope, more than any other individual made it famous. When all was said and done his hobby made him the father of microbiology and he became the first scientist to report the existence of microorganisms invisible to the unaided eye. According to Gillen and Oliver: “He started bacteriology and protozoology, he advanced parasitology, and he accurately described many human cells, including red and white blood cells, sperm, and other human tissues…. By 1673, Leeuwenhoek was discovering things with his superior microscopes that no human eye had ever seen!”1

Leeuwenhoek was clearly a visionary and a scientist ahead of his time. In fact, the Royal Society of London, at first, rejected his discoveries since they felt he was an untrained layman. However, several British biologists corroborated his findings and as a result his reputation grew so much that he was later elected as a fellow of the Royal Society.

Not only was Leeuwenhoek the first to observe protozoans but he was the first to see sperm cells and their whipping action. But one of his greatest achievements was to demonstrate that the theory of spontaneous generation, which taught that living things emerge spontaneously from inanimate matter, was false. For centuries scientists believed in this theory but because Leeuwenhoek was a strong Christian he believed that God created all things according to their kind, and that nothing else could come into existence except through pre-existing life. Through his work with the microscope, he showed that small organisms didn’t spontaneously spring into existence from non-living matter but through the tiny hatched eggs, that often went unnoticed, from the adult parent.

Leeuwenhoek was a strong believer in investigating God’s handiwork in nature. His strong desire was to glorify God and benefit mankind through his scientific research. A sampling of his letters show how Leeuwenhoek ascribed greatness to God for His marvelous creation. In speaking of his opposition to spontaneous generation Leeuwenhoek shared:

“From all these observations, we discern most plainly the incomprehensible perfection, the exact order, and the inscrutable providential care with which the most wise Creator and Lord of the Universe had formed the bodies of these animalcules, which are so minute as to escape our sight, to the end that different species of them may be preserved in existence. And this most wonderful disposition of nature with regard to these animalcules for the preservation of their species; which at the same time strikes us with astonishment, must surely convince all of the absurdity of those old opinions, that living creatures can be produced from corruption of putrefaction.”2

Leeuwenhoek believed that God made all the tiny creatures the microscope allowed him to see as a testimony of the magnificence of His creation. His microscopes were his tools to give glory to God. Not only was Leeuwenhoek the first micro hunter but he also is the father of advanced parasitology, as well as the first person to recognize the amazing design in microbe motility.

Leeuwenhoek not only had a passion for science but he also had a passion for Christ and it was his sincere desire that his scientific research would help others marvel in the power and creative genius of our Creator. He was indeed a simple man but a giant in the Christian faith. And even at the advanced age of 90 (his age at death) he still had the joy of the Lord in his heart and an awe and wonder at the tiny divine creation he helped others to see.

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1 Antony van Leeuwenhoek: Magnificent Microscopes | Answers in Genesis

2 Antony van Leeuwenhoek: Magnificent Microscopes | Answers in Genesis