Antonie van Leeuwen-hoek was a 17th century Dutch scientist. He is best known for discovering protozoa, and creating more than 500 simple microscopes. Van Leeuwenhoek was the first scientist to closely observe cells under a microscope. One of his most groundbreaking discover100 Great Sies was also one of his first. His observations, in 1674, of scummy pond water, led to the first visual descriptions and illustrations of such common organisms as the algae spirogyra. This contributed towards the foundation of several branches of biology. He made one of the first recorded observations of bacteria when he studied the plaque from his teeth. He noticed what he called animalcules' in the saliva sample. These animalcules were actually bacteria. He gave cells their name because he thought they resembled the shape of a monk's quarters. Although Van Leeuwen-hoek never received any formal scientific training, he is considered to be the father of microbiology for his contributions to that field of science.
Nicholas Copernicus was 15 century astronomer and mathematician, translator artist and physicist among other things He is best known as the first astronomer to put forward the idea of a system in which the planets and planetary objects orbit the Sun. By 1508, Copernicus had begun to create his model of the planetary system, suggesting that the Sun, and not our Earth, was the centre of the Universe. His model of the Universe was accepted, whereas earlier models had not been, because his was more detailed and accurate. He also had a better formula for the calculation of the positions of the planets at different times of the year. The Roman Catholic Church criticised Copernicus' theories. It went so far as to ban his book 'De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium,' after he died, and it remained a forbidden book for almost three hundred years. The ideas of Copernicus were instrumental in the evolution of the field of astronomy. In fact, almost every notable astronomer who came afte...