The van Musschenbroek vacuum pump is an instrument from the late 17th century constructed by the Dutch craftsman . A series of pumps were designed and produced over the years, with the 1698-model as one of the more prominent examples. It was based on an air pump design by . This model was used to study fluids (gas or liquid) at the University of Groningen. The pump enabled physical, chemical and medical experiments to give a more illustrative explanation of the scientific theories that were presented to the students of the university. This use of experimental demonstrations during teaching was relatively new in Europe at the time.