| Date | 1665 |
| Author | Hooke |
| Contribution | Described a fossilized foraminiferan (large protozoon) in sand, and understood it as a microscopic life form. |
| Reference | Bardell |
| Notes | Robert Hooke described and illustrated the object in his Micrographia (1665). He interpreted it as a miniature snail shell (which it resembles in form) and thought it probably had been petrified (fossilized). See Bardell, David 1988. ASM News 54: No.4, 182-185. ASM = American Society for Microbiology. Hooke also described and illustrated a microscopic fungus (rust) and said it resembled a mushroom. Although a rust colony is macroscopic, the various forms of hyphae, which Hooke described, are not. Hooke may thus be said to be the discoverer of microorganisms, though these were free-living organisms and not germs as we know them. |
| Category | Miscellany |
| Pathogen Class | General |
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