Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (layu-wen-hook)

AKA the Father of Sperm. Born October 24, 1632 in Delft, Holland. An unlikely scientist, he came from a family of tradesman, had no formal education and little money. Despite this, he went on to make some of the more important discoveries in the history of biology. Among his discoveries: Leeuwenhoek is known to have made over 500 microscopes of which fewer than ten are around today. Often called the "Father of the Microscope" even though compound microscopes had been around for nearly 40 years before Leeuwenhoek was born.

In 1698, he demonstrated circulation in the capillaries of an eel to Tsar Peter the Great of Russia.

Died August 30, 1723.


Source: http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/leeuwenhoek.html