Nicolaas Hartsoeker (26 March 1656 – 10 December 1725) was a Dutch
mathematician
A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems.
Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change.
History
On ...
and
physicist
A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe.
Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate caus ...
who invented the
screw-barrel simple
microscope
A microscope () is a laboratory instrument used to examine objects that are too small to be seen by the naked eye. Microscopy is the science of investigating small objects and structures using a microscope. Microscopic means being invisibl ...
.
Biography
![Hartsoeker, Nicolaas – Principes de physique, 1696 – BEIC 1476275](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/Hartsoeker%2C_Nicolaas_%E2%80%93_Principes_de_physique%2C_1696_%E2%80%93_BEIC_1476275.jpg)
He was the son of Anna van der Meij and Christiaan Hartsoeker (1626–1683), a
Remonstrant
The Remonstrants (or the Remonstrant Brotherhood) is a Protestant movement that had split from the Dutch Reformed Church in the early 17th century. The early Remonstrants supported Jacobus Arminius, and after his death, continued to maintain his ...
minister in
Moordrecht
Moordrecht () is a town and a former municipality in the province of South Holland, the Netherlands, situated along the river Hollandse IJssel.
In September 2006, 93% of the population of Moordrecht chose by referendum to pursue a merger with the ...
near
Gouda
Gouda may refer to:
* Gouda, South Holland, a city in the Netherlands
** Gouda (pottery), style of pottery manufactured in Gouda
** Gouda cheese, type of cheese originally made in and around Gouda
** Gouda railway station
* Gouda, Western Cape, a s ...
. His father took the family to
Alkmaar
Alkmaar () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, located in the province of North Holland, about 30 km north of Amsterdam. Alkmaar is well known for its traditional cheese market. For tourists, it is a popular cultural destination. The ...
in 1661 and finally to
Rotterdam
Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...
in 1669. Nicolaas started to make a living as a lens maker in Rotterdam, and was instructed in optics by
Antonie van Leeuwenhoek
Antonie Philips van Leeuwenhoek ( ; ; 24 October 1632 – 26 August 1723) was a Dutch microbiologist and microscopist in the Golden Age of Dutch science and technology. A largely self-taught man in science, he is commonly known as " the ...
. In 1674, he and a fellow student, assisted by Van Leeuwenhoek, were the first to observe semen, a situation that would later lead to a priority dispute between Hartsoeker and Leeuwenhoek over the discovery of
spermatozoid
A spermatozoon (; also spelled spermatozoön; ; ) is a motile sperm cell, or moving form of the haploid cell that is the male gamete. A spermatozoon joins an ovum to form a zygote. (A zygote is a single cell, with a complete set of chromosomes, t ...
s.
In 1677, Hartsoeker met
Christiaan Huygens
Christiaan Huygens, Lord of Zeelhem, ( , , ; also spelled Huyghens; la, Hugenius; 14 April 1629 – 8 July 1695) was a Dutch mathematician, physicist, engineer, astronomer, and inventor, who is regarded as one of the greatest scientists of ...
and initiated him in the making of lenses. In June 1678, Hartsoeker accompanied, in the role of an assistant, Huygens on a trip to
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
, where they made a great impression with their
microscope
A microscope () is a laboratory instrument used to examine objects that are too small to be seen by the naked eye. Microscopy is the science of investigating small objects and structures using a microscope. Microscopic means being invisibl ...
s. However, Huygens failed to mention Hartsoeker even once in a subsequent publication in France, leading to a fall-out between the two.
Hartsoeker returned to Rotterdam, where his parents still lived and where he married Elisabeth Vettekeucken in October 1680. His business as an instrument maker and
wine
Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...
merchant failed and, after the death of his father in August 1683, he moved his family in 1684 to
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
, where he made instruments for the
Paris observatory
The Paris Observatory (french: Observatoire de Paris ), a research institution of the Paris Sciences et Lettres University, is the foremost astronomical observatory of France, and one of the largest astronomical centers in the world. Its histor ...
and the academy. Hartsoeker also came up with contrivances for aiming very large
aerial telescope
An aerial telescope is a type of very long focal length refracting telescope, built in the second half of the 17th century, that did not use a tube. Instead, the objective was mounted on a pole, tree, tower, building or other structure on a swivel ...
s originally popularized by Huygens.
He remained there until 1698.
[
]
It is often said that in 1694, while observing human sperm through a microscope, Hartsoeker believed that he saw tiny men inside the sperm, which he called homunculi
A homunculus ( , , ; "little person") is a representation of a small human being, originally depicted as small statues made out of clay. Popularized in sixteenth-century alchemy and nineteenth-century fiction, it has historically referred to the ...
or animalcules
Animalcule ('little animal', from Latin ''animal'' + the diminutive suffix ''-culum'') is an old term for microscopic organisms that included bacteria, protozoans, and very small animals. The word was invented by 17th-century Dutch scientist A ...
. However, he only postulate
An axiom, postulate, or assumption is a statement that is taken to be true, to serve as a premise or starting point for further reasoning and arguments. The word comes from the Ancient Greek word (), meaning 'that which is thought worthy or f ...
d their existence as part of his spermist theory of conception and never claimed to have seen them. The 1694 "Essay on dioptrics", in which this hypothesis appears, was a highly lauded book, in fact tackling several misconceptions of the time. For example, Hartsoeker disavows the contemporary position (e.g. of Robert Hooke
Robert Hooke FRS (; 18 July 16353 March 1703) was an English polymath active as a scientist, natural philosopher and architect, who is credited to be one of two scientists to discover microorganisms in 1665 using a compound microscope that ...
) that with refractor telescope
A refracting telescope (also called a refractor) is a type of optical telescope that uses a lens as its objective to form an image (also referred to a dioptric telescope). The refracting telescope design was originally used in spyglasses and as ...
s one soon would be able to see man-sized creatures on the moon
The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...
, if any in fact existed.[
At the end of the century, Hartsoeker had become quite famous. In 1699 he was elected member of the ]French Academy of Sciences
The French Academy of Sciences (French: ''Académie des sciences'') is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV of France, Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French Scientific me ...
and in 1704 of the Prussian Academy of Sciences
The Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences (german: Königlich-Preußische Akademie der Wissenschaften) was an academy established in Berlin, Germany on 11 July 1700, four years after the Prussian Academy of Arts, or "Arts Academy," to which "Berlin ...
, in both cases as one of the first foreign members. Czar Peter met him in Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
and offered him the chair of mathematics in St Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
. Hartsoeker did not accept, but the czar did finance an observatory
An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysical, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. His ...
for him in Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
. Later, in 1704, Hartsoeker accepted the offer of Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine
Johann Wilhelm II, Elector Palatine (''"Jan Wellem"'' in Low German, English: ''"John William"''; 19 April 1658 – 8 June 1716) of the Wittelsbach dynasty was Elector Palatine (1690–1716), Duke of Palatinate-Neuburg, Neuburg (1690–1716), ...
to become "first mathematician and honorary professor of philosophy" at the University of Heidelberg
}
Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, ...
. The last years of his life were spent in Utrecht
Utrecht ( , , ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city and a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, pro ...
.[
]
Major works
*
*
* ''Conjectures physiques'', Amsterdam, 1706.
* ''Suite des conjectures physiques'', Amsterdam, 1708.
* ''Eclaircissements sur les conjectures physiques'', Amsterdam, 1710.
Editions
*
References
External links
Digitized works by Nicolaas Hartsoeker from the Linda Hall Library
The Linda Hall Library is a privately endowed American library of science, engineering and technology located in Kansas City, Missouri, sitting "majestically on a urban arboretum." It is the "largest independently funded public library of scien ...
* (1694
''Essay de dioptrique''
* (1696
''Principes de physique''
* (1706
''Conjectures physiques''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hartsoeker, Nicolaas
1656 births
1725 deaths
Dutch biologists
17th-century Dutch inventors
17th-century Dutch mathematicians
18th-century Dutch physicists
People from Gouda, South Holland
Members of the French Academy of Sciences
Members of the Prussian Academy of Sciences
Heidelberg University faculty