Almost everyone knows that sperm is a fluid that emerges in the testicles from the puberty period in men. Since the existence of humanity, people already had ideas about issues such as sexuality and reproduction, but what sperm is was not exactly known until it was discovered.
In our content, we have compiled the story of the discovery of sperm, which the discovering scientist was horrified by the image he encountered under the microscope and was ashamed to reveal to the scientific world.
First of all, what exactly is sperm, which everyone must hear?
As we can remember from our biology knowledge at primary school level, the cell is the smallest structural unit of the body. Sperm, on the other hand, can be briefly defined as a reproductive cell belonging only to men. Sperm are produced in the male testicles and are not expelled alone. When thrown out of the body, it is excreted mixed with a liquid called semen, that is, sperm alone cannot be seen.
We are all born as a result of the union of a sperm with an egg in a woman. The hereditary information in the head of the sperm, called DNA, constitutes half of the features that make us who we are. When the sperm is examined under the microscope, it is seen that it consists of a head and a tail, just like a worm. It has been observed that it moves by curling up due to its tail.
Since the existence of humanity, people have had an opinion about the issues of sex and reproduction. But what exactly sperm is was understood towards the end of the 17th century.
Antonie Philips van Leeuwenhoek, who is also seen as the father of microbiology, started to make his voice heard in the scientific world at that time.
Leeuwenhoek was originally a draper before making the discoveries that would become so famous in the scientific world. After a while, he actually developed his own lenses and microscope just to look at threads and fabrics in more detail. He never trained himself as a scientist, but his strong intelligence began to benefit the scientific world.
With his microscope, he discovered many things, from bacteria to bee stings, from lake microbes to head lice. He described these discoveries in an important magazine of the time. As a matter of fact, European and scientifically educated people were amazed when they read about these discoveries. This is how Leeuwenhoek began to make a name for himself.
Leeuwenhoek, who became known in the scientific world, was asked to examine the semen.
Leeuwenhoek became known in the scientific world, especially in the field of microbiology, thanks to the research results he wrote for journals. Although he lived in the Netherlands, he had become well-known in England, so the royal secretary, Henry Oldenburg, constantly asked him to examine the semen. No one wanted to examine the semen, including the sperm, as it was considered disgusting until now.
Leeuwenhoek came from a bourgeois-class family and had religious beliefs. There was an insistent request that he examine the semen. However, the only reason he rejected these offers was because of his religious beliefs. Although he found this discovery wrong and even repulsive, he could not resist the insistence.
Before starting the research, he wrote a letter expressing his embarrassment.
He also stated that if the research results are too odious and embarrassing to be published, the results can be destroyed at will.
Leeuwenhoek thought the results were embarrassing. At the same time, he said that after a while, he would accept this discovery and observations about sperm, even if it was hidden as if it had never happened. Leeuwenhoek thought he didn’t find anything special, even if he did all this research on sperm and sent it to the appropriate places.
Interesting things were slowly emerging in sperm discovery.
As Leeuwenhoek began to discover sperm, he became interested in some of the strange fibrous structures he could see during the discovery phase. What he saw as strange fibrous structures was the tail of the sperm. Leeuwenhoek did not realize with the possibility of those times, but the sperm cell was unlike anything in the human body.
In fact, it was later discovered that the only human cell that functions outside the body is the sperm cell. However, it is said that even under today’s conditions, the function of sperm and what exactly it is trying to do are not understood.
There were good reasons why Leeuwenhoek didn’t see semen as anything interesting. In the years when sperm began to be researched, that is, at the beginning of the 17th century, although people had opinions on issues such as sexuality, sex, and reproduction, it was of course unthinkable that the semen coming out of the man helped the fertilization of the egg in the woman. So, given the circumstances of the time, Leeuwenhoek was absolutely right to think that semen wasn’t interesting.
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