In the mid-1670s, Johannes Swammerdam, a Dutch biologist, peered through his microscope at a honeybee's brain and drew what he saw. That illustration, seen above, is the oldest known image of a bug brain.
Writing in the Royal Society Journal of the History of Science, Andrea Strazzoni of the Università di Torino, tells us everything we could possibly want to know about the drawing, the manuscript in which it appeared, and the historical significance of the work.
"Through a reconstruction of the genesis of Swammerdam's texts on bees, both the novelty and accuracy of his observations are highlighted, as well as his reliance on a Cartesian physiology in the interpretation and rendering of the observed parts," Strazzoni writes.
Swammerdam was quite the pioneering microscopist, as Science News reveals. "In 1658, he was also the first to see and describe red blood cells."
Previously:
• Exploring caffeine under a microscope
• Electron microscope video of a needle in a vinyl record
