Cornelis Drebbel, a Dutch engraver, had been in Middelburg in 1600, where he built a fountain at the Noorderpoort.

He met there with Hans Lipperhey, spectacle maker and constructor of telescopes and his colleague Zacharias Jansen.

There Drebbel had learned lens grinding and optics.

The Drebbel family around 1604 had moved to England, probably at the invitation of the new king, James I of England.

Drebbel, who also worked at the masques performed by and for the court, had been connected with the court of Crown Prince Henry.

Drebbel and family had been invited in 1610 to come to the court of Emperor Rudolf II in Prague.

Drebbel had returned to London in 1612 after Rudolf's death.

Unfortunately, his patron prince Henry had also died and Drebbel was in financial trouble.

Drebbel had in 1619 begun designing and building telescopes and microscopes and become involved in a building project for the Duke of Buckingham.

William Boreel, the Dutch Ambassador to England, mentions the microscope that was developed by Drebbel.

While working for the English Royal Navy in 1620, Drebbel had also built the first navigable submarine in 1620, using William Bourne's design from 1578 to manufacture a steerable submarine with a leather-covered wooden frame.

Drebbel becomes famous for his invention in 1621 of a microscope with two convex lenses.

Several authors, including Christiaan Huygens, assign the invention of the compound microscope to Drebbel.

However, a Neapolitan, named Fontana, had in 1618 claimed the discovery for himself.

Other sources attribute the invention of the compound microscope directly to Hans Jansen and his son Zacharias around 1595.