ZACHARIAS JANSSEN: BIOGRAPHY, INVENTIONS AND OTHER CONTRIBUTIONS - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

Zacharias Janssen (1585-1632) was a Dutch inventor who is credited with inventing the first microscope. For some, he was also the creator of the telescope; however, this has not yet been verified.

Before World War II there was more information about the life and work of Zacharias Janssen; However, during the invasion of the Nazis many of the biographical texts that were in the city of Middelburg were destroyed by the air attack that occurred on May 17, 1940.

In other words, little is currently known about the life of this inventor; What can be assured is that Zacharias maintained conflictive relations with the authorities due to his businesses of dubious origin and for repeatedly falsifying the currency.

In fact, some believe that his invention of the microscope was intended to create a device that would allow him to copy coins as accurately as possible. Even during his multiple arrests large quantities of tools that Zacharias manufactured for this purpose were found.

Although Janssen had a conflicting history, the importance of his achievement is undeniable since thanks to the appearance of the microscope, scientists had the possibility of knowing and discovering all the microorganic life that exists in the different natural residues, which can be positive or harmful to the welfare of the human being.

Biography

Zacharias Janssen was born in 1585 in the city of The Hague, located in the Netherlands and died in 1638 in the city of Amsterdam; However, this date is tentative since there are testimonies from his sister that indicate that Zacharias actually died in 1632.

Family

According to investigators, Janssen's parents were Maeyken Meertens and Hans Martens, who was possibly a street vendor. Her mother is only known to be a native of the city of Antwerp, located in Belgium and formerly known as Antuerpia.

Like his father, Zacharias Janssen was involved in informal sales, which led to several legal problems with the authorities. Despite this, it cannot be denied that Janssen's inventions completely changed the history of microbiology and medicine.

Nuptials

On October 23, 1610, he married Catharina de Haene. This is known thanks to the fact that in 1906 Cornelis de Waard found the marriage certificate of this inventor.

Later, in 1618, the Janssen family had to move to the city of Arnemuiden, located on the island of Walcheren, due to Janssen's legal problems.

A year later Zacharias was again accused of counterfeiting coins, for which he had to flee for the third time, this time for Middleburg, where he arrived in 1621.

After the death of his first wife in 1624 Janssen remarried, this time to Anna Couget of Antwerp, who was the widow of a relative of Zacharias.

Bankruptcy

In 1626 Janssen decided to move to the city of Amsterdam in order to practice the profession of polisher and manufacturer of lenses; however, he was unsuccessful and went bankrupt in 1628.

After this date, no more records of the life of this inventor are kept until the year of his death.

Invention of the first microscope

At present, the claim that Zacharias Janssen was the inventor of the microscope is debatable, since there is no concrete evidence regarding this data.

On the contrary, the only thing that could be recorded in the documents found were somewhat contradictory and at the same time confusing statements, which date from 1634 and 1655.

Despite the confusion generated by the little data found, it is considered that Janssen may have been the manufacturer of the microscope for a single lens, as well as that of two lenses. The first is classified as a simple microscope, while the other is called a compound.

Janssen's invention, which he made with the help of his father, consists of nine magnifications. According to questionable sources, the manufacture of the artifact is dated to 1590, but data were also found indicating that the manufacture was in 1595.

During this period Zacharias tried to achieve an even higher magnification of lenses, in order to help people with very poor eyesight.

Background to Janssen's Invention

Since the beginning of human history, man has tried to invent different methods to increase the visual perception of objects in order to find out or learn more about the characteristics of these elements.

As man evolved in his discoveries, he realized that the answer was found in the refined compound of the glass.

Two thousand years ago the Romans noticed that by means of a glass sphere, sunlight could be converged; However, it was not until the end of the 16th century that the magnification of lenses was discovered, allowing its application in the study of botany and zoology.

Before the invention of the microscope, the smallest living things that man had been able to visualize were insects; After the arrival of glasses and this invention, a profound epistemological change occurred in the history of humanity, as a whole world of microorganisms that inhabit everything that surrounds man was discovered.

In 1609 Galileo Galilei had already used devices similar to the telescope, which he used for his important and revealing astronomical studies.

In the first decades of the seventeenth century, the use of glasses was becoming one of the most important mechanisms for scientific research and for the improvement of health.

Two important Dutchmen: Janssen and Leeuwenhoek

Starting in the 17th century, microscopes began to be built; however, these lacked accuracy and in many cases exceeded the stature of the person who was going to use them.

In addition to Zacharias Janssen, there was also another Dutchman who was in charge of manufacturing lenses for use in the development of microscopy; this character was named Anton Van Leeuwenhoek.

Contrary to Zacharias, Anton Van Leeuwenhoek was in charge of recording his observations, making detailed sketches and taking notes on those tiny beings that he could visualize moving within the stagnant waters that he collected for his investigations.

In the Middelburg museum, located in the Netherlands, one of the first known microscopes can be seen, probably made by Janssen, although it is difficult to verify its authorship. This type of device was remarkably simple, consisting mainly of two lenses attached to two sliding tubes.

To regulate both focus and magnification it was necessary to insert and remove the tube. At the beginning, this type of microscope only served to analyze opaque bodies; however, at the end of the century another inventor known as Campani managed to reconstruct a microscope that made it possible to observe transparent preparations.

Refinement of Janssen's invention

As you can imagine, the images captured by these early microscopes were quite poor, showing only a small fraction of the observed object. In order to carry out the examination, the use of lamps was necessary, the transfer of which made it difficult to observe the specimens.

Following the invention of Zacharias Janssen, in a short period of time a remarkable number of designers began to emerge throughout the West.

It is said that the first improvement that was made to this device consisted in expanding the number of lenses used from 2 elements to 3, a configuration that is maintained by today's standard microscopes.

For his part, Robert Hooke strove to make more efficient lenses that could facilitate scientific research, but the results were not entirely satisfactory. Despite this, Hooke's observations provided the basis for microscopy to be recognized as a science today.

Later, in the 18th century, John Marshall took it upon himself to perfect the mechanical design of the microscope. This time the scientists had more tools to improve on Janssen's invention; however, the quality of the lenses was still poor.

It was not until the 19th century that notable advances could be made in optical systems and in microscopy as a science.

Microscopic discoveries during the 17th century

During this period, great discoveries were made, such as the one made by Jan Swammerdam, who discovered that blood does not have a uniform red color, but that within it there is a series of corpuscles, which give it that color. Similarly, Nehemiah Grew discovered pollen grains.

One of the most important discoveries of the seventeenth century through the use of the first microscopes was made by Marcello Malpighi, who dedicated himself to studying the lungs of the frog, which allowed him to discover a complex network made up of blood vessels that cannot perceived as separate due to their small size.

This allowed him to establish that these vessels could be classified into veins and arteries, since some went in one direction and the others moved in the opposite direction. This led him to conclude that both arteries and veins are linked by a network of vessels that he called capillaries.

Leeuwenhoek himself realized during his inventions something that neither Swammerdam nor Malpighi (who were the real scientists) could visualize; Leeuwenhoek became aware of the existence of red blood cells in the blood and was able to describe them in greater detail. He also made guesses about capillaries.

Other contributions

Another of the inventions attributed to Zacharias Janssen is the telescope, since its first appearance is dated 1608 in the Dutch country.

However, in that same year the inventor Hans Lippershey submitted the application for registration for said artifact; in turn, Jacob Metius made the same request in Almaar. Both permits were rejected.

At that time it happened frequently that several inventors and scientists reached the same results in similar periods of time, since the sociological conditions were similar and, as previously mentioned, for that historical moment the lenses were causing a great impact on everything. West.

Testimonials

To support the authorship of Zacharias Janssen, the documentation of an astronomer of German nationality named Simon Marius is used.

This character wrote a text mentioned that a Dutchman whom he had met in 1608 at the Frankfurt Autumn Fair, instigated him to acquire a description device similar to that of the telescope.

Janssen was a traveling salesman like his father, so it is considered that there is a notable possibility that it was Zacharias who had tried to sell the device to Simon Marius.

Similarly, the testimony of his son Johannes was also taken into consideration, who claimed that his father had invented the artifact in 1590, which would imply that Hans Lippershey had stolen the invention of the telescope.

In conclusion, despite the fact that the information recorded on this inventor is scarce and inaccurate, some sources can testify to the importance of Zacharias Janssen within the field of scientific inventions. It can be established without any doubt that Janssen improved the way in which man could perceive his environment.

References

1. Lanfranconi, M. (sf) History of microscopy. Retrieved on November 12, 2018 Optical consultation documents: etpcba.com.ar
2. Ledermann, W. (2012) Who saw them first? Retrieved on November 12, 2018 from Scielo: scielo.conicyt.cl
3. Sánchez, R. (2015) History of the microscope and its impact on Microbiology. Retrieved on November 12, 2018 from Research Gate: researchgate.net
4. UANL (sf) History and development of the microscope. Retrieved on November 12, 2018 from Digital UANL: cdigital.dgb.uanl.mx
5. Volcy, C. (2004) The bad and the ugly of microbes. Retrieved on November 12, 2018 from UNAL Digital Library: bdigital.unal.edu.co