Although Van Leeuwenhoek wasn&#x27;t a scientist, the skill he deployed in developing his microscope was a considerable achievement at the time. As in so many scientific stories, his work spurned others into further discoveries.<p>Here&#x27;s a BBC science documentary from 2009 called <i>The Cell</i> that begins with the story of Van Leeuwenhoek. Unfortunately, this YouTube copy has been dimmed presumably to avoid a copyright takedown. It&#x27;s a shame these documentaries languish in the BBC archives.<p>Narrator:<i>&quot;My starting point is September 1674 and the Royal Society of London. A mysterious satchel arrived in this club for gentleman scientists. It had taken five days to get here from Holland, across the North Sea by ship and then by horseback rider. The package came from a man who built the world&#x27;s most powerful microscope, a microscope that revealed a hidden kingdom no-one had seen before...&quot;</i><p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtu.be&#x2F;nc9aSq22nmo?t=2m16s" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtu.be&#x2F;nc9aSq22nmo?t=2m16s</a>