Editing Delft (section)

{{other uses}}
{{Infobox settlement
| name                    = Delft
| settlement_type         = [[List of cities in the Netherlands by province|City]] and [[Municipalities of the Netherlands|municipality]]
| image_skyline           = Delft Blick von der Nieuwe Kerk auf die Oude Kerk 1.jpg
| image_alt               =
| image_caption           = A view of Delft with the [[Oude Kerk (Delft)|Oude Kerk]] in the centre
| image_flag              = Flag of Delft.svg
| flag_size               = 100x67px
| image_size              = 280px
| image_shield            = Coat of arms of Delft.svg
| shield_size             = 100x80px
| shield_alt              =
| nickname                = Prinsenstad (Prince City)
| image_map               = Map - NL - Municipality code 0503 (2009).svg
| map_alt                 = Highlighted position of Delft in a municipal map of South Holland
| map_caption             = Location in South Holland
| pushpin_map             = Netherlands#Europe
| pushpin_map_caption     = Location within the Netherlands##Location within Europe
| pushpin_relief          = 1
| coordinates             = {{coord|52|0|42|N|4|21|33|E|region:NL|display=inline,title}}
| coordinates_footnotes   =
| subdivision_type        = Country
| subdivision_name        = Netherlands
| subdivision_type1       = [[Provinces of the Netherlands|Province]]
| subdivision_name1       = [[South Holland]]
| seat_type               = [[Seat of local government|City Hall]]
| seat                    = [[City Hall (Delft)|Delft City Hall]]
| government_footnotes    = <ref name="mayor_now">{{cite web |url=http://www.delft.nl/Inwoners/Gemeente_en_democratie/Bestuur/College/Burgemeester_Verkerk/Maak_kennis_met |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130718193055/http://www.delft.nl/Inwoners/Gemeente_en_democratie/Bestuur/College/Burgemeester_Verkerk/Maak_kennis_met |url-status=dead |archive-date=18 July 2013 |title=Maak kennis met. |trans-title=Meet. |language=nl |work=Burgermeester Verkerk |publisher=Gemeente Delft |access-date=18 July 2013}}</ref>
| governing_body          = [[Municipal council (Netherlands)|Municipal council]]
| leader_party            = [[Christian Democratic Appeal|CDA]]
| leader_title            = [[Burgemeester|Mayor]]
| leader_name             = [[Marja van Bijsterveldt]]
| unit_pref               = Metric
| area_footnotes          = <ref>{{Dutch municipality total area|dataref}}</ref>
| area_total_km2          = {{Dutch municipality total area|Delft}}
| area_land_km2           = {{Dutch municipality land area|Delft}}
| area_water_km2          = {{Dutch municipality water area|Delft}}
| elevation_footnotes     = <ref name="AHN">{{cite web |url=http://www.ahn.nl/postcodetool |title=Postcodetool for 2611GX |language=nl |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |work=Actueel Hoogtebestand Nederland |publisher=Het Waterschapshuis |access-date = 18 July 2013}}</ref>
| elevation_m             = 0
| elevation_max_footnotes = 
| elevation_max_m         =
| elevation_min_footnotes = 
| elevation_min_m         =
| population_footnotes    = <ref>{{Dutch municipality population|dataref}}</ref>
| population_total        = {{Dutch municipality population|Delft}}
| population_as_of        = {{MONTHNAME|{{Dutch municipality population|popbasemonth}}}} {{Dutch municipality population|popbaseyear}}
| population_density_km2  = {{Dutch municipality population density|Delft}}
| population_demonyms     = {{ubl|Delftenaar|Delvenaar}}
| timezone1               = [[Central European Time|CET]]
| utc_offset1             = +1
| timezone1_DST           = [[Central European Summer Time|CEST]]
| utc_offset1_DST         = +2
| postal_code_type        = [[Postal codes in the Netherlands|Postcodes]]
| postal_code             = 2600–2629
| area_code_type          = [[Telephone numbers in the Netherlands|Area code]]
| area_code               = 015
| website                 = {{URL|1=http://www.delft.nl}}
}}
[[File:Gem-Delft-OpenTopo1654Explosion.png|thumb|A 2018 map of the Delft municipality with the [[epicenter]] of the 1654 explosion superimposed on the Paardenmarkt, the site's present occupant.]]
'''Delft''' ({{IPA|nl|ˈdɛl(ə)ft|-|Nl-Delft.ogg}}) is a [[List of cities in the Netherlands by province|city]] and [[Municipalities of the Netherlands|municipality]] in the [[Provinces of the Netherlands|province]] of [[South Holland]], Netherlands. It is located between [[Rotterdam]], to the southeast, and [[The Hague]], to the northwest. Together with them, it is a part of both the [[Rotterdam–The Hague metropolitan area]] and the [[Randstad]].

Delft is a popular tourist destination in the Netherlands, famous for its historical connections with the reigning [[House of Orange-Nassau]], for its [[Delftware|blue pottery]], for being home to the painter [[Johannes Vermeer|Jan Vermeer]], and for hosting [[Delft University of Technology]] (TU Delft). Historically, Delft played a highly influential role in the [[Dutch Golden Age]].<ref>Huerta, Robert D.: ''Giants of Delft: Johannes Vermeer and the Natural Philosophers: The Parallel Search for Knowledge during the Age of Discovery''. (Pennsylvania: Bucknell University Press, 2003)</ref><ref>[[Timothy Brook|Brook, Timothy]]: ''[[Vermeer's Hat|Vermeer's Hat: The Seventeenth Century and the Dawn of the Global World]]''. (Bloomsbury Press, 2009, {{ISBN|978-1596915992}})</ref><ref>[[Walter Liedtke|Liedtke, Walter]]; Plomp, Michiel C.; [[Axel Rüger|Rüger, Axel]]; Baarsen, Reinier J.: ''Vermeer and the Delft School''. (NYC: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2013, {{ISBN|978-0300200294}})</ref><ref>[[Laura J. Snyder|Snyder, Laura J.]]: ''Eye of the Beholder: Johannes Vermeer, Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, and the Reinvention of Seeing''. (W. W. Norton & Company, 2015, {{ISBN|978-0393352887}})</ref> In terms of science and technology, thanks to the pioneering contributions of [[Antonie van Leeuwenhoek]]<ref>Ruestow, Edward G.: ''The Microscope in the Dutch Republic: The Shaping of Discovery''. (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996)</ref><ref>Fournier, Marian: ''The Fabric of Life: The Rise and Decline of Seventeenth-Century Microscopy''. (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, {{ISBN|978-0801851384}})</ref> and [[Martinus Beijerinck]],<ref>Artenstein, Andrew W.: ''The discovery of viruses: advancing science and medicine by challenging dogma''. (''International Journal of Infectious Diseases'', Volume 16, Issue 7, July 2012, pages: e470-e473). {{doi|10.1016/j.ijid.2012.03.005}}. Andrew W. Artenstein: "By 1895 Beijerinck had returned to academia after leaving the [[Wageningen University|Agricultural School]] for a 10-year stint in industrial microbiology in Delft, the South Holland birthplace of [[Antonie van Leeuwenhoek|van Leeuwenhoek]], one of the founding fathers of microbiology. During his first years at the [[Technical University of Delft]], Beijerinck resumed the research on [[tobacco mosaic disease]] that he had started while working with [[Adolf Mayer|Mayer]]. Even then, he had appreciated that the affliction was microbial in nature, although he felt that the actual agents had yet to be discovered. Beijerinck's investigations at Delft proved fruitful; he not only confirmed the infectivity of the [[contagium vivum fluidum]]—soluble living germ—despite filtration, but he importantly demonstrated that unlike bacteria, the culprit of tobacco disease of plants was incapable of independent growth, requiring the presence of living, dividing host cells in order to replicate."</ref> Delft can be considered to be the birthplace of [[microbiology]].