How van Leeuwenhoek's Discovery of the Microworld Sparked a Medical Revolution— with a special focus on antimicrobial resistance

Celebrating 300 Years of Innovation and Beyond: How van Leeuwenhoek's Discovery of the Microworld Sparked a Medical Revolution— with a special focus on antimicrobial resistance

On October 4th 2023 Rijksmuseum Boerhaave and Museum of Science in Boston will co-sponsor a special event at the Museum of Science, Boston. Rijksmuseum Boerhaave, the Dutch national museum of the history of science and medicine in Leiden, is proud of its collaboration with the Museum of Science in Boston, which was initiated by the signing of a Letter of Intent on 28 November 2022.

Rijksmuseum Boerhaave and Museum of Science Boston are organising a joint event October 4th 2023. The purpose of this is to solidify their collaboration and to involve their mutual partners in realising each of our ambitions to establish a new exhibition hall on Life Sciences & Health.

The Museum of Science Boston is among the oldest science museums in the United States, with over 700 interactive exhibits and a vibrant series of programs in classrooms and online. Rijksmuseum Boerhaave is the national science museum of the Netherlands, housing a world-renowned collection of scientific and medical assets spanning five centuries. With foundations built on this rich history, their museums have set our sights on an innovative future. Each museum has arrived at plans to communicate current life sciences to a wide audience—The Museum of Science via its Boston Science Common initiative, and Rijksmuseum Boerhaave through the Life Science & Health Studio in Leiden—each in an effort to inspire a lifelong love of science in everyone.

This year (2023), The Netherlands is celebrating the Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Year commemorating 300 years since his passing. Rijksmuseum Boerhaave has the largest collection of existing microscopes of Van Leeuwenhoek in the world, and at this moment is presenting the exhibition ‘Unimaginable; How Antoni van Leeuwenhoek discovered the microworld’. The exhibition not only deals with the life and work of Van Leeuwenhoek, but also with the impact of his discoveries on contemporary microbiology. As an example: the exhibition features the American professor Jillian Banfield from the University of California - Berkeley, who is the winner of the Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Medal 2023 awarded by the Royal Netherlands Society for Microbiology.

Source: Rijksmuseum Boerhaave