#microsopes

The Spectacle of Nature: Robert Hooke’s Micrographia 

One of the most groundbreaking books in the formation of Western science is English polymath Robert Hooke’s Micrographia, printed in 1665 by John Martyn and James Allestry, printers to the Royal Society. It is considered to be the first major work on microscopy, the practice of using microscopes to view objects that would otherwise be invisible to the naked eye. There were new advancements in lenses during the 17th century which led to the development of optical instruments like telescopes and microscopes. The book was extremely popular and influential during Hooke’s life and continues to be through the present day.  

Robert Hooke (1635-1703) was a founding member of The Royal Society, a British academic institution dedicated to the advancement of scientific knowledge. In 1662, Hooke was appointed “Curator of Experiments” to the Royal Society. Hooke was involved in many scientific debates during his day, and most notably accused his rival Isaac Newton of plagiarism. Hooke asserted that he was the first to publish the discovery of the inverse square law of gravitational attraction which was a theoretical cornerstone of Newton’s Principia Mathematica (which we hold at UW-Milwaukee Special Collections). While the scientific community sided with Newton, Hooke can still be credited with a number of mathematical and mechanical inventions, including Hooke’s Law, an equation that describes elasticity.

The book we are highlighting today is Robert Hooke’s Micrographia: or Some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies Made by Magnifying Glasses. With Observations and Inquiries Thereupon. It contains thirty-eight copperplate engravings based on Hooke’s own drawings from his observations made using a microscope. The illustrations range from detailed drawings of a flea, the eyes of a fly, blue mold, diamonds, ice crystals, and other minute specimens Hooke saw through a microscope. The book also includes astronomical observations of stars and moons made through use of a telescope.

Science Saturday

Today we present Antonie van Leeuwenhoek’s Arcana naturae detecta published in 1695, published by Henrik van Kroonevelt in the Netherlands.

Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723) was a Dutch tradesman, civic official, and self-taught scientist who is considered the father of microbiology. His discovery of microorganisms that cannot be seen with the naked eye was groundbreaking in humanity’s understanding of the natural world.  

Leeuwenhoek was inspired by Robert Hooke’s Micrographia published in 1665, which contained giant engravings of enlarged fleas, lice, bees, mold, and other curious things seen under a microscope. Leeuwenhoek set to work developing a microscope for himself based on the one described by Robert Hooke in Micrographia, but made a simpler design that had one very small lens that could magnify up to 300 times. This was crucial in his studies of lake water and the discovery of the small microorganisms living in it.

The illustrated title page in Arcana naturae detecta engraved by J. Van Schaak presents many allegorical scenes. The one that really stands out to me is the Eye of Providence (or eye of God) shining down on two women standing at a table, one of the women has winged ears and is wearing a dress that has eyes all over it, and she is looking through a microscope. I also feel very sorry for the figure in the lower left of the image who is being stepped on by a woman holding a sun in one hand, and a book with the engraver’s name in the other. She sits beside several scientific instruments, so we think the man she is stepping on is meant to represent ignorance.

You can view a digitized copy of Arcana naturae detecta online through the Biodiversity Heritage Library here.

View other posts about Antonie van Leeuwenhoek.

View other Science Saturday posts.