Anton van Leeuwenhoek was not the inventor of the microscope as he is often portrayed. In fact the microscopes he made used a single lens, while compound microscopes more similar to today's instrument were known a half century before the Dutchman was born. However, the tools and available glasses available at the time allowed him to reach much higher useful magnifications than the more complex instruments, and he turned those lenses on a world of wondrous tiny things that no one before him had seen. Science was largely centered in London and Paris at the time, and some in his home town ridiculed him for his devotion to looking at pond water and the saliva of dogs, but he stayed in place - possibly because he never spoke any language other than Dutch. He was the first to determine the life cycle of insects at a time when it was believed, for example, that weevils in stored grain came spontaneously from the grain instead of being maggots hatched from eggs laid by flying insects. He did manage to become quite a celebrity, but his visitors had bring their own translators.
From the tiniest to the grandest, perhaps the greatest of the gothic cathedrals was consecrated on this day, with groined vaults, flying buttresses, and more stained glass than had ever been seen. The site had been used by the Druids before the Christians took it over in the fourth century, a long string of churches were built and later burned before this wonder went up. The French, in a fit to make the passage of time more logical, created a new calendar that allowed only one day off every ten, more sensible minds allowed the return of the week later. (The same group came up with the metric system of measurement which does make sense.)
We also have the first person to go over Niagara Falls and live to tell about it, the day that marks the end of the Roaring Twenties, and the first chance to buy nylon stockings - at least if you worked for the company that made them.
1260 - Pope Alexander IV consecrated Notre Dame d'Chartres (Our Lady of Chartres), the cathedral often seen as the epitome of gothic architecture. It is the site of incredible stained glass (there are 3,889 figures in the windows), a great deal of statuary, and the veil of the Virgin Mary brought to France by Charlemagne. It was built from 1205 to 1260, but the site had been a church since the fourth century, with major fires in 1030, 1134, and 1194.
1793 - The French Revolutionary Calendar (or Republican Calendar) was officially adopted. It had 12 months of 30 days each, either five or six (in leap year) days at the end of the year to stay in synch with the planet, and counted from 22 September 1792, with the vernal equinox the first day. There were no weeks, but three decades in each month. The day comprised ten hours of 100 minutes of 100 seconds. Napoleon abolished it on 1 January 1806.
1901 - Anna Edson Taylor climbed inside an airtight wooden barrel, a bicycle pump was used to increase the air pressure to 30 psi, and the barrel was sent over Niagara Falls. The 43-year-old widow expected fame and fortune as the first to go over the falls and live. She lived, but there was no fortune.
1929 - In a nervous stock market a record 12,894,650 shares were traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Although much worse at the lunch break, the Dow Jones closed at 299, down from the peak of 381 in September. The total valuation fell by $4 Billion, tickers were behind by up to four hours, and the clerks worked until 5 the next morning to complete all the trades. It was called Black Thursday.
1939 - Nylon stockings went on sale for the first time at Wilmington, Delaware, home of Dupont. Production was low at first, sales were only made to company employees. Nation-wide retail availability followed on 15 May 1940.
Independence Day, Republic of Zambia - Celebrates independence from 70 years of British colonial rule in 1964. It wasn't so much the cost of British rule that was the problem for the former Northern Rhodesia, under the federated administration the revenue from copper mining was going to Southern Rhodesia. Independence leader Kenneth Kaunda was elected as the first president and served for 27 years.
United Nations Day, Anniversary of the founding of the United Nations in 1945, following the ratification of the UN Charter by a majority of the signatories. It is a public holiday in Haiti, Mauritius, and Swaziland, and a half-day holiday in Nepal.
1632
- Anton van Leeuwenhoek, Dutch optician, scientist - Born at Delft,
Holland to a family of tradesman, his father was a basket maker and his
mother's family were brewers. Raised by uncle at Benthuizen, apprenticed
as a linendraper in Amsterdam in 1648, returned to Delft and setup his
own draper's shop in 1652. In 1676 was named trustee of the estate of
the painter Jan Vermeer, who had apparently been a friend. Learned to
grind lenses around 1665, certainly before 1668, used single-lens structure
to yield magnifications of 50 to 300 times, avoiding problems of compound
microscopes used by Hooke and others, but requiring techniques of lighting
when he never revealed. He made at least 500 instruments, many with lenses
no larger than a pinhead. Was first to observe the protists (single-celled
free-living organisms) which he called animalcules, bacteria, sperm, blood
cells, nematodes, and many other single-cells, hired an illustrator to
draw what he observed. Began corresponding with the Royal Society of London
in 1673, his Dutch was translated and published by the Royal Society in
either English or Latin, with his illustrations, he became a full member
in 1680 but never attended a meeting. In 1698 he demonstrated blood circulation
through the capillaries of an eel for Tsar Peter the Great. Continued
his observations until his death at Delft on 26 August 1723.
Don't be fooled by the calendar. There are only as many days in a year
as you make use of. One man gets only a week's value out of a year while
another gets a full year's value out of a week.
- Charles Richards
A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates
it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral.
- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Dreams - A microscope through which we look at the hidden occurrences
in our soul.
- Erich Fromm
A cathedral, a wave of storm, a dancer's leap, never turn out to be as
high as we had hoped.
- Marcel Proust
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Copyright 2000 G. Armour Van Horn, all rights reserved. This document may be distributed freely. Please forward the complete message including this copyright notice.