Interesting facts about Anton Van Leeuwenhoek:

He was appointed chamberlain to the sheriffs of Delft where he held office for 39 years.
In 1669 he took one of his microscopes on a visit to England and used it to examine chalk from the cliffs in Kent.
Although he had no academic training in science, he was elected a member of the Royal Society of London in 1680 and of the French Academy of Sciences in 1697.