As an amateur microscopist I have long known of the contribution that Antoni van Leeuwenhoek made to the science of microbiology. During my last summer holiday my family and I were able to visit Delft, the city of my father. I was hoping to find a museum to commemorate the man and his great contribution to history. I was soon to be disappointed – except for a few faded panels and his grave markers there is little in Delft to show what a magnificent force he was in the early scientific world.
I want to use this blog to highlight the influence of Leeuwenhoek and the other scientists of Holland’s Golden Age. These early pioneers still influence our thoughts, inform our reason and delight us with their tenacity. It was people such as these that created the period we know as the Renaissance, the precursor to the Enlightenment – where scholasticism and faith give way to experimental science and reason. This blog will serve as an on-line museum and a central dispersion point for information on the Dutch Golden Age of Science.
The painting (1681) shows the Delft anatomist Cornelis s’Gravesande (1631 – 1691), as he gives a lesson. On his right is Antoni van Leeuwenhoek. Painting by Cornelis de Man (1621 – 1706). The painting hangs in Het Prinsenhof, Delft.