What is microbiology?

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Microbiology is a scientific discipline dealing with the study of organisms which cannot be seen with the naked eye and can therefore only be seen with the  aid of a microscope.  This is because human eye cannot resolve any object smaller than 1/10 mm in diameter. Most microscopic organisms are only a few thousandths of a millimetre in size and are collectively referred to as microorganisms. Main groups of organisms generally studied under microbiology are bacteria, fungi, viruses, algae and protozoa.



Birth of microbiology

Although Robert Hooke describes the fruiting structures of fungi in 1660 the first person to see microorganisms in any detail was Anton van Leeuwenhoek  (1632-1723). He was not a trained scientist but a merchant whose interest was to grind lenses and construct microscopes. The instruments he made were not more powerful than magnifying glasses capable of enlarging objects up to 200 to 300 times. One complete original Leeuwenhoek’s microscope is still preserved in the university museum in Utrecht in the Netherlands. They were extremely crude by today’s standards but by careful manipulation and focusing he was able to see microorganisms.

                                                              Anton van Leeuwenhoek

He called the microorganisms ‘wee animalcules’ and recorded his observations in a letter to the Royal Society of London between the year 1674-1685. These observations became the first known description of protozoa, algae and bacteria.

Microbiology had thus made a tentative beginning, but it failed to become a science in the disciplined sense of the world till the late 19th century (for nearly 200 years). One of the important drawbacks was that the microscopes available in the 17th and 18th centuries suffered from serious optical defects. 


Why is the study of microbiology important?

The importance of the study of microorganisms is two-fold

  1. They have a profound influence on our society and make their presence felt in environment, health and medical science, agriculture and industry. They can be used to help man in solving important world problems, including food shortages, energy crises, pollution, etc
  2. Microorganisms have enables us to advance our knowledge of living organisms and biological processes.



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