First Person In The World Who Discovered The Sperm Cells

Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, father of microbiology

“Spermatozoon (disc-shaped head 5.1 µm by 3.1 µm and a tail 50 µm long)” by quapan is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Bacteria have been around for a long time on Earth and were called the first living things on Earth. The first scientist to study and describe these bacteria was Antonie van Leeuwenhoek. Because of that, he also became the first person in the world to observe sperm.

“Antoni van Leeuwenhoek” by Stifts- och landsbiblioteket i Skara is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Antonie van Leeuwenhoek was born on October 24, 1632, in the small city of Delft in the Dutch Republic. A self-taught man in science, he is commonly known as “the Father of Microbiology”, and one of the first microscopists and microbiologists. Van Leeuwenhoek is best known for his pioneering work in microscopy and his contributions toward the establishment of microbiology as a scientific discipline.

Sperm were unknown to science until 1677 when the Dutch amateur scientist Antonie van Leeuwenhoek first observed human sperm under a microscope. Van Leeuwenhoek turned his newly developed microscope toward his semen, seeing for the first time that the fluid was filled with tiny, wiggling cells.