Microscope Museum

Collection of antique microscopes and other scientific instruments

Microscope 462 (replica of an Antoni van Leeuwenhoek microscope, made by Chris Kirby, Hertfordshire, UK)

Microscope 462 is a replica of an Antoni van Leeuwenhoek microscope. This replica was made in 2010 or 2011 by Chris Kirby, at that time a retired engineer and amateur instrument maker from Hertfordshire, UK. These replicas were all hand-made, largely using machinery built by Chris. Lenses were made by cutting a disc of glass from glass sheet and using a grinding wheel to shape a convex lens of approximately 100 times magnification. The two brass plates which form the body of the microscope were cut on a template, the dimple for the lens pressed using a home-made press, and the two plates riveted together using hand-made brass rivets. The specimen screws were cut from brass rod and threaded. The main screw could have a pierced or solid handle, which was stamped from the rod using a Victorian press (see some photos of Chris Kirby and his workshop here). This type of microscope is the “standard” Van Leeuwenhoek microscope, and widely illustrated in books, textbooks, webpages and other sources on biology, microbiology, microscopy, and other subjects. Figure 1 shows a drawing of one of these microscopes, made by the English microscopist John Mayal in 1886, based on an original Leeuwenhoek microscope that belonged to the Zoological Laboratories at the University of Utrecht. Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (1632 - 1723) was a Dutch microscopist who was the first to observe bacteria and protozoa, and is many times referred to as the father of microbiology. Van Leeuwenhoek made microscopes consisting of a single high-quality lens of very short focal length. At the time, such simple microscopes were preferable to the compound microscope, which increased the problem of chromatic aberration. Van Leeuwenhoek’s methods of microscopy remain something of a mystery. During his lifetime he made more than 500 lenses, most of which were very small (no larger than a pinhead) and usually mounted them between two thin brass plates, riveted together. A large sample of those lenses were found to have magnifying powers in the range of 50 to, at the most, 300 times. Van Leeuwenhoek made more than 270 single-lens microscopes, and most of these were listed in the 1747 auction catalogue when all his little lenses and microscopes were sold after the death of Van Leeuwenhoek’s daughter Maria, and 24 years after Van Leeuwenhoek’s death. Three of these microscopes were known to be made of gold, but the majority were made of silver or brass. Most microscopes were lost through the times and, today, only eleven microscopes are known and recognised as original Van Leeuwenhoek microscopes and exhibited in several museums such as the Boerhaave Museum in Leiden. Van Leeuwenhoek made and used other types of microscopes to observe and study different types of samples, including dual- and three-lenses microscopes and eel/fish viewers. Figure 2 below shows a selection of replicas of these microscopes making part of this collection.

Figure 1. Drawing of an original Van Leeuwenhoek’s microscope (adapted from “Mayall J. 1886. Leeuwenhoek’s Microscopes. Journal of the Royal Microscopical Society 6: 1047 – 1049”).

Figure 2. Replicas of different types of microscopes associated with Antoni van Leeuwenhoek: (A) Standard type of single-lens microscope; (B) Dual lenses microscope; (C) Three-lenses microscope; (D) Aquatic/eel viewer microscope; (E) Eel viewer/showcase for visitors microscope; and (F) Fish viewer microscope.