Fun Facts: In 1999 sci en tists dis cov ered the larg est bac te rium ever. The
or gan ism can grow to as large as .75 mm across—about
the size of the
pe riod at the end of this sen tence. The new found bac te rium is 100 times
larger than the pre vi ous re cord holder. For com par i son,
if the newly dis -
cov ered bac te rium was the size of a blue whale, the
av er age bac te rium
would be the size of a new born mouse.
More to Ex plore
More to Ex plore
Dobell, Clif ford.
An thony van Leeuwenhoek and His “Lit tle An i mals.” New York:
Do ver, 1990.
Ralston, Alma.
The Cleere Ob server: A Bi og ra phy of An tony van Leeuwenhoek. New
York:
Macmillan, 1996.
Ruestow, E.
The Mi cro scope in the Dutch Re pub lic: The Shap ing of Dis cov ery. New
York: Cam bridge Uni ver sity Press, 1996.
Schierbeek, A.
Mea sur ing the In vis i ble World: The Life and Works of An thony van
Leeuwenhoek. Lon don: Abelard-Schuman, 1999.
Yount, Lisa.
An tony van Leeuwenhoek: First to See Mi cro scopic Life. Beecher, IL:
Sage brush, 2001.
30 Bac te ria
