Introspection before cyberspace.

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Numerous methods of introspection exist. Some of us even go to Scientology or psychoanalysis to peer inside our perhaps formative, perhaps fictional, selves. Four hundred and thirty years ago, on this day, however, in 1676, a different sort of historic introspection occurred. It was on this day that Antonie van Leeuwenhoek first noted that he observed "very little animalcules" moving around in rain water he had accumulated from a roof during a rainstorm.

Microscopes were pretty new back then, and with hindsight it's not really clear whether Leeuwenhoek's achievement was discovering the microscopic life that was within a drop of water (not found in pure rain water, but somehow accumulated into that water as it poured from the roof) or simply his focusing a lens on the water to see what was within.

Either way, it's fair to say that 330 years ago Leeuwenhoek ushered in a new era. The physical world could no longer be confined to what met the naked eye. At least from this point on, we had to look within.

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Go to: Doing things the hard way.