Closing In On Cancer

A DUTCH EYEGLASS MAKER, Johannes Jansen, and his son Zacharias are credited with inventing the microscope c.1590 and the telescope in 1608. The Jansen microscope was rapidly put to work by 17th-century researchers throughout Europe who investigated the structures and functions of human organs, as well as plant life and bacteria.

Discovery of the Cell
In his Micrographia (1655), Robert Hooke illustrated tissue structure in plants, calling it "little boxes of cells." His observation of "cells" led to the 19th-century theory of the cell as the basic unit of all living organisms.

Leeuwenhoek's Discoveries
A linen merchant of Delft, Antony van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723) was a brilliant layman who pursued his hobby of lens-grinding to a place in history as the father of microbiology. Leeuwenhoek produced microscopes with the magnification power of 270 times, and discovered spermatozoa, bacteria and protozoa.

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						Discovery of the Cell In his Micrographia (1655), Robert Hooke illustrated tissue structure in plants, calling it "little boxes of cells." His observation of "cells" led to the 19th-century theory of the cell as the basic unit of all living organisms.

		Leeuwenhoek's Discoveries A linen merchant of Delft, Antony van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723) was a brilliant layman who pursued his hobby of lens-grinding to a place in history as the father of microbiology. Leeuwenhoek produced microscopes with the magnification power of 270 times, and discovered spermatozoa, bacteria and protozoa.

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