Education
Bleeker attended Lange Sint high school in Pietersstraat, Middelburg, the Netherlands.
Bleeker attended Lange Sint high school in Pietersstraat, Middelburg, the Netherlands.
Because her mother discouraged her from continuing her studies, she taught at a secondary school to pay her way at the University of Utrecht, where she received her Doctor of Philosophy in 1928 with her thesis on alkaloid spectra. After receiving her degree, Bleeker opened a factory for the construction of scientific and optical equipment. During World World War II, her factory was closed down after she was discovered to be working with the Dutch resistance.
After the war, she opened a new factory, which was the first to make the phase contrast microscope invented by Frits Zernike.