Q 01/05

Which Dutch draper observed bacteria in 1676 and is called the 'Father of Microbiology'?

A) Antonie van Leeuwenhoek

B) Robert Hooke

C) Christiaan Huygens

D) Jan Swammerdam

Answer · why

A) Antonie van Leeuwenhoek

He never wrote a book, describing his 'animalcules' in chaotic letters to the Royal Society, which published them.

Q 02/05

In which Dutch city did Van Leeuwenhoek live and work for most of his life?

A) Amsterdam

B) Delft

C) Leiden

D) Utrecht

Answer · why

B) Delft

He opened a draper's shop there in 1654 selling linen, yarn and ribbon before turning to lenses.

Q 03/05

Robert Hooke's first recorded microscope observation, in 1665, was of what?

A) Human red blood cells

B) Protozoa in pond water

C) The fruiting bodies of moulds

D) Sperm cells from a dog

Answer · why

C) The fruiting bodies of moulds

The Jesuit Athanasius Kircher may have beaten both Hooke and Van Leeuwenhoek, describing 'worms' in vinegar and milk in 1646.

Q 04/05

Which Jesuit priest, writing on the plague in 1658, was likely the first person to see microbes?

A) Christopher Clavius

B) Gregor Mendel

C) Roger Boscovich

D) Athanasius Kircher

Answer · why

D) Athanasius Kircher

He correctly said the disease was caused by microbes, though what he saw was probably blood cells; he was also a pioneer of the magic lantern.

Q 05/05

Which 19th-century botanist founded bacteriology, describing Bacillus and drawing up the first bacterial taxonomy?

A) Ferdinand Cohn

B) Carl Linnaeus

C) Ernst Haeckel

D) Matthias Schleiden

Answer · why

A) Ferdinand Cohn

He also discovered the dormant spores some bacteria form; Pasteur and Koch were his contemporaries.