“… by the help of Microscopes, there is nothing so small, as to escape our inquiry; hence there is a new visible World discovered …” Robert Hooke 1665
People have been aware of small living organisms such as mites and ticks from early times, mainly because of the association of these organisms with pets and livestock. In 1665 the English scientist, Robert Hooke (1635–1703), published a book, Micrographia, which is one of the earliest books about the use of a microscope to view the world of tiny animals. The microscope he used was hand-crafted and consisted of a series of lenses. Sunlight or a flame, projected through a glass sphere, provided the light source. He made one of the earliest drawings of a mite.
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