Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, a Dutch tradesman and Delft native, after developing his method for creating powerful lenses and applying them to a thorough study of the microscopic world, had been introduced via correspondence to the Royal Society of London by the famous Dutch Physician Regnier de Graaf.
Leeuwenhoek's interest in microscopes and a familiarity with glass processing leads to one of the most significant, and simultaneously well-hidden, technical insights in the history of science.
By placing the middle of a small rod of soda lime glass in a hot flame, van Leeuwenhoek can pull the hot section apart like taffy to create two long whiskers of glass.
By then reinserting the end of one whisker into the flame, he can create a very small, high-quality glass sphere.
These spheres become the lenses of his microscopes, with the smallest spheres providing the highest magnifications.
An experienced businessman, van Leeuwenhoek realizes that if his simple method for creating the critically important lens were to be revealed, the scientific community would likely disregard or even forget his role in microscopy.
He therefore allows others to believe that he is laboriously spending most of his nights and free time grinding increasingly tiny lenses to use in microscopes, even though this belief conflicts both with his construction of hundreds of microscopes and his habit of building a new microscope whenever he chances upon an interesting specimen that he wants to preserve.
Van Leeuwenhoek uses samples and measurements to estimate numbers of microorganisms in units of water.
Making good use of the huge lead provided by his method, he studies a broad range of microscopic phenomena, and shares the resulting observations freely with groups such as the English Royal Society.
Such work firmly establishes his place in history as one of the first and most important explorers of the microscopic world.
In 1673, his earliest observations are published by the Royal Society in its journal, Philosophical Transactions.
Among these published observations are Leeuwenhoek's accounts of bee mouthparts and stings.
