While the exact inventor of the microscope remains disputed, Hans and Zacharias Janssen, a Dutch father-and-son team of spectacle makers, are credited with creating the first compound microscope around 1590. Their invention was a tube with lenses at either end, allowing for magnification of objects. However, no published observations using this microscope exist. It wasn't until the work of Robert Hooke and Antonie van Leeuwenhoek that the microscope was fully embraced as a scientific instrument.
Although Leeuwenhoek is often referred to as the "father of microscopy" due to his groundbreaking discoveries, he did not invent the microscope. Instead, he constructed his own simple microscopes with a single lens, which he used to observe blood, yeast, and insects. His meticulous observations led to the first descriptions of cells and bacteria.
It's important to note that while the Janssen's are widely credited with the invention, some historians argue that they may not have been the sole creators of the compound microscope. Nevertheless, their invention laid the foundation for the development of the powerful microscope that we know today.
