-Aqsa, Subject Matter Expert at Edumarz
Solution: Robert Hooke, who was a mathematician, physicist, and architect, discovered the cell. One of the most significant events in the history of biology was the invention of the compound microscope by Zacharias Jansen, a spectacle maker of the Netherlands. He placed different types and sizes of lenses in opposite ends of tubes to observe small objects under them. Robert Hooke improved Jansen’s instrument. He examined many natural objects with his improved microscope. Robert Hooke made a microscope about six inches long and used two convex lenses to examine specimens. He observed them under reflected light and then under directly transmitted light. Using directly transmitted light showed a clear image. He also observed a section of cork and published his findings in the book ‘Micrographia or Some Physiological Descriptions Made by Magnifying Glasses‘ in 1665. Thus, he became the first person to observe a cell. He saw a cell wall that surrounded cavities. The term cell was first introduced by Hooke to denote these little boxes or cavities into which the cork was regularly partitioned.
Antony Van Leeuwenhoek, a Dutch merchant was the first person to see a living cell. He observed bacteria, yeast, protozoa, spermatozoa, etc., with his simple microscope – a magnifying lens.