Sacharias Janssen is the possible inventor of a single-lens (simple) microscope, probably with the help of his father, in 1595, while trying to find a way to make magnification even greater, to help people with seriously poor eyesight.

Janssen's attribution to this discovery is debatable.

He is also the first person to create and build a compound (two or more lens) microscope in 1609.

These compound microscopes can magnify objects up to nine times their original size.

Sacharias Jansen has been tried several times in the years 1613-1619 for counterfeiting coins.

Jansen had grown up right next to the Middleburg mint where his brother-in-law works.

These circumstances make it very easy for Janssen to mimic the process of manufacturing money.

He had fled to the neighboring village of Arnemuiden to avoid the high penalties for counterfeiting coins.

However, he has continued counterfeiting coins in Arnemuiden.

He is apprehended in 1619 for owning several devices with which he counterfeited coins.

Normally, one would be sentenced to death for this crime.

As the father of the Arnemuiden bailiff is found to be an accessory, however, it turns out better for Jansen: thanks to this, the process is delayed to such an extent that Janssen is able to flee yet another time.