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Antonie van Leeuwenhoek - Our Partner Society - Royal Dutch Society for Microbiology

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We are pleased that in 2020 Springer and the Royal Dutch Society for Microbiology (this opens in a new tab) (Koninklijke Nederlands Vereniging voor Microbiologie, or KNVM) joined forces to reinvigorate the Anthonie van Leeuwenhoek Journal of Microbiology as an outlet for high quality studies in the tradition of the Dutch School of Microbiology.

Our Society

KNVM invites membership for everyone interested in microbes, their effects and their practical application. Many members are based in universities, industries, hospitals, research institutes and schools. The society is committed to supporting and encouraging the understanding of microbiology and has 10 divisions in various microbiological disciplines, supporting activities in the field of microbiology through grants and awards. Furthermore, the society organizes and supports outreach, conferences and events to disseminate scientific advances in microbiology and provide a forum for communication between microbiologists.

Our History

By the end of the nineteenth century microbiology developed as a new branch of science, with important prospects for implementation in medicine and the fermentation industry. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, who lived in Delft, used a home-made microscope to become the first person to observe and report bacteria. His accurate observations were published in 1674 in letters to the Royal Society in London. Two centuries later, also in Delft, production of baker’s yeast on an industrial scale was started by the "Gist- en Spiritusfabriek".  Martinus Willem Beijerinck was hired to ensure safe production of the yeast, and in 1895 he was appointed as the new Chair in General Microbiology at the, then, Polytechnic in Delft. Some 10 years earlier the University of Amsterdam had already installed a Chair in Medical Microbiology and one of the alumni was Christiaan Eijkman, who later became Professor in Medical Microbiology at the University of Utrecht. Due to an increased interest for the research on micro-organisms the Netherlands Society for Microbiology was established on April 20, 1911, with Beijerinck as the first chairman. Since then the Society has flourished to encompass more than 1500 members, and after celebrating it’s 100th anniversary was bestowed with the honor to be named “Royal”.

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