It happened over 300 years ago in Holland. Anton Van Leeuwenhoek had a new microscope that he had made. One day he looked through it at a drop of lake water. What he saw surprised him. The water was alive with what Leeuwenhoek called "wee beasties." The microscope made tiny organisms look 200 times bigger than life size. Leeuwenhoek was one of the first scientists to see living things that were that small. His work was a giant step for science. Today, microscopes are much stroger. An electron microscope can make tiny organisms look 200,000 times life size. A few electron microscopes can see individual atoms. Pictures can be made to show the objects or organisms much bigger. The pictures add greatly to what we know about tiny objects and organisms. Microscopes have come a long way in 300 years!