Leeuwenhoek Microscope (Replica)
date: label: date made
content: 1961
label: associated dates
content: 1961 05 13 / 1961 05 13
notes: label: Description
content: Antoni Van Leeuwenhoek (1635-1723) was a Dutch tradesman who became interested in microscopy while on a visit to London in 1666. Returning home, he began making simple microscopes of the sort that Robert Hooke had described in his, <i>Micrographia</i>, and using them to discover objects invisible to the naked eye.
label: Description
content: In 1886, John Mayall, a prominent English microscopist, made drawings of an original Leeuwenhoek microscope that belonged to the Zoological Laboratories at the University of Utrecht, and that a Dutch professor had brought to London. Replicas followed soon thereafter. The Smithsonian purchased this example from the Rijksmuseum voor de Geschiedenis der Natuurwetenschappen in Leiden. The inscription reads “COPIE / LEIDEN.”
label: Description
content: Ref: J. Mayall, “Leeuwenhoek’s Microscopes,” <i>Journal of the Royal Microscopical Society</i> 6 (1886): 1047-1049.
label: Description
content: J. van Zuylen, “The Microscopes of Antoni van Leeuwenhoek,” <i>Journal of Microscopy</i> 121 (1981): 309-328.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: associated place
content: Netherlands: South Holland, Leyden
topic: label: Subject
content: Medicine
label: Subject
content: Nursing
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Medicine
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MG.M-09840
label: accession number
content: 236657
label: catalog number
content: M-09840
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Microscope
label: Object Name
content: microscope
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal, brass (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 1 in x 3 in x 1 in; 2.54 cm x 7.62 cm x 2.54 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: 3 cm x 2.3 cm x 9 cm; 1 3/16 in x 29/32 in x 3 17/32 in