Leeuwenhoek sees microbes
A drop of water reveals an invisible living world
Cloth merchant Antonie van Leeuwenhoek ground his own lenses and in 1676 wrote to the Royal Society about "animalcules" in a drop of water. It was the first time anyone had seen bacteria and protists.
Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English) · 17th century
Meanwhile around the world (±25 years)
Eastern Europe & Russia
- 1654 Pereiaslav Agreement — 22 years earlier
- 1682 Accession of Peter the Great — 6 years later
Africa
- 1662 Last sighting of the dodo — 14 years earlier
Alive at the time
- Louis XIV (aged 38)
- Isaac Newton (aged 33)
- Kangxi Emperor (aged 22)
- Peter the Great (aged 4)
- Aurangzeb (aged 58)
- Alexis the Most Quiet (aged 47)
- Shivaji (aged 46)
- Charles II (aged 46)
- Leopold I (aged 36)
- Matsuo Bashō (aged 32)