Not long after, scientists began to consider new frontiers. If Galileo could use glass to peer into the heavens, perhaps glass could also open a window into something almost as vast: the microscopic world. Moving glass into the 18th century, Anton van Leeuwenhoek became the first to identify bacteria under a microscope.
While he used a scope with only one lens, other scientists developed an improved method using two lenses. This opened up a whole new world of possibilities. Magnification became larger and clearer, and it placed glass at the vanguard of a scientific revolution that spanned biology, physics, and chemistry.