Who am I?

Anton van Leeuwenhoek

Who is Leeuwenhoek? Watch this video! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePnbkNVdPio

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!) TNT- stands for “Turn and Talk”; when I say “TNT” the kids say “DYNAMITE!” NB it!- means that the kids write it down in their science composition notebooks