A Great Discovery in Water Filtration History
The Renaissance period, beginning in the late fourteenth century, ended the scientific and intellectual stagnation of the Dark Ages and sparked a new period of discovery. In this period, often called the Age of Discovery, several inventions came about that greatly affected the world. Included among these inventions was the microscope, a scientific innovation that greatly affected the history of water filters.
Long before the actual use of a microscope as we know it today,
people had recognized the power of concave glass to make items
appear larger and to focus heat from the sun. This discovery
was little used until the advent of spectacles in the mid-thirteenth
century. It wasn't until the late sixteenth century that such
concave pieces of glass, or lenses as they were called, became
relevant to the history of microscopy, and, consequently, to
the history of water filters. In 1590, two Dutch spectacle makers,
Janssen and his son Hans, began experimenting with lenses
in a tube and found that they could greatly magnify objects
viewed through the tube (Wilson, 1995). This invention was the
forerunner to modern-day telescopes and microscopes.
A century later, Anton
van Leeuwenhoek, considered the father of microscopy, built
upon the Janssens simple invention. By grinding and polishing
the tiny curved lenses, he was able to reach magnifications
of up to 270 times the original object (Wilson, 1995). This
advanced microscope had a great effect upon the study of water
purity and water filtration. Scientists were now able to view
tiny material particles present in water that had been presumed
to be clean.