Corliss J O
J Protozool. 1975 Feb;22(1):3-7.
It was exactly 300 years ago this month (August 1974) that the 17th century modest draper from Delft, Holland--Antony van Leeuwenhoek--discovered protozoa. Describing them, often with amazing accuracy considering the optical equipment he was using (simply a home-made "glorified" hand lens), in letters to the Royal Society of London, he established himself, certainly, as the founding father of protozoology. It is particularly appropriate for an assemblage of protozoologists to pay homage to this intrepid "philosopher in little things," a man with an insatiable curiosity about his wee animalcules, on the tricentenary of his discovery of them, since it was an event of such long-lasting significance.
就在300年前的这个月（1974年8月），来自荷兰代尔夫特的17世纪谦逊的布商——安东尼·范·列文虎克——发现了原生动物。他在写给伦敦皇家学会的信中描述了这些原生动物，考虑到他所使用的光学设备（仅仅是一个自制的“高级”手持放大镜），其描述往往惊人地准确，他无疑成为了原生动物学的奠基人。对于一群原生动物学家来说，在他发现原生动物三百周年之际，向这位无畏的“研究微小事物的哲学家”致敬是非常合适的，因为他对这些微小生物有着永不满足的好奇心，这是一个具有如此深远意义的事件。
