It was a development that any of us would be excited to see happen.

His hobby had become something more.

Anthony had worked as a draper for most of his adult life, but in the late 1630s he hit

one of those smooth patches we dream of.

His business was successful, his community loved him, and the local government had even

given him a fat, juicy contract.

So he took on a hobby.

Remember, Anthony sold cloth by day, but in his spare time he learned to grind glass

discs into viewing lenses.

At first it was a fun way for him to look at the quality of the threads in his merchandise,

but hobbies rarely stay small, right?

Within a few years he was looking deeper into everyday objects than just about anyone

else in the world.

In 1674 he documented protozoa and bacteria.

Three years later he had identified the spermatzoa from a variety of animals.

Soon he became the first person to ever see red blood cells.

What really blew things up for him, no pun intended, I swear, was when he looked through

his lens at droplets of water.

There, moving around in a substance that he had assumed was transparent and empty, were

living creatures.

He decided Anthony called them animal fuels, tiny animals, and hired an illustrator to draw

them so that others could see them as well.

...