| RefNo | MOB/013 |
| Level | Item |
| Title | Antoni van Leeuwenhoek's specimens |
| Date | 1674-1687 |
| Description | In three boxes as follows:
1. Three glass slides with teased filaments from dried algae collected by Antoni van Leeuwenhoek.
2. Fourteen specimens mounted on metal stubs and coated in gold for scanning electron microscope. Housed in a labelled box. Including elder-pith fragment, cork sections and cottonseed, also collected by van Leeuwenhoek.
3. One envelope containing eight packets of dried specimens, previously protected in glass covership but now kept in their paper packets, the packets are numbered 1 - 9 with n.3 omitted, as original packet 3 was empty of content. With four envelopes containing portions of each sample prepared as part of the 2022 analysis. |
| Extent | Three boxes containing twenty-five prepared specimens |
| ObjectName | Artefact |
| Arrangement | Prepared and housed by Brian J Ford in 1981. Portion of specimens rehoused in 2022 as part of new analysis |
| Digital images | View item on Science in the Making |
| Notes | Samples were prepared by Brian J. Ford in 1981 to preserve < 30% of the material in uncontaminated conditions out of their original packets. Written about at length in Brian J Ford's paper, 'The van Leeuwenhoek specimens' Notes and Records, vol 36, no 1, pp 37-59. |
| AccessStatus | Open |
| Provenance | Sent into the Society by van Leeuwenhoek in 1674 [EL/L1/4; EL/L1/9]; 1686 [EL/L2/1] and 1687 [EL/L2/16] respectively; discovered by Brian J Ford in 1981 while studying EL/L1 and EL/L2 at the Royal Society |
| RelatedMaterial | DOI: 10.1098/rsnr.1981.0003 |
| RelatedRecord | EL/L1/9 |
| EL/L1/4 |
| EL/L2/1 |
| EL/L2/16 |
Fellows associated with this archive
| Code | PersonName | Dates |
| NA8438 | Leeuwenhoek; Antoni van (1632 - 1723); tradesman and microscopist | 1632 - 1723 |