These individuals made significant improvements either in the technology involving microscopes or in accumulating the body of knowledge of microscopic structure. They were Marcello Malpighi (1628-1694), Anton van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723), Jan Swammerdam (1637-1680), and Robert Hooke (1635-1703).
Background
Marcello Malpighi was an Italian biologist and physician who conducted extensive studies in animal anatomy. He was one of the first scientists to use a microscope to study the structure, composition, and function of tissues, so he is often known as the father of histology (the microscopic study of tissues). Among his many accomplishments dealing with the human body was the first description of capillaries, the inner layer (dermis) of the skin, the papillae of the tongue, the outer portion of the brain (cerebral cortex), and red blood cells. He wrote detailed treatises on animals and insects, including descriptions of the development of the chick embryo and the lifecycle of the silkworm, and demonstrated that pests such as the flea and weevil reproduce through ordinary insect means and not by spontaneous generation (the concept that living organisms could be created from nonliving matter). In addition, Malpighi made detailed investigations into plant anatomy.
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