Question

Name the scientist who discovered the cells for the first time?

Answer 1

Hint: The term cell was derived from the Latin word ‘cella’, meaning "small room".
It is the basic structural, functional, and biological unit of all known organisms. A cell is the smallest unit of life. Cells are often called the "building blocks of life".

Complete step-by-step answer:

The cell was first discovered and named by the scientist Robert Hooke in 1665.
1. He was an English philosopher, polymath, and architect.
2. Hooke actually saw the dead cell wall of plant cells (cork) as it appeared under the microscope.
3. Hooke’s description of these cells was published in his book ‘Micrographia’.
4. The cell walls observed by Hooke gave no indication of the nucleus and other organelles found in most living cells.

Additional information:
1. Anton van Leeuwenhoek is another scientist who saw these cells soon after Hooke did. He made use of a microscope containing improved lenses that could magnify objects almost 300 fold.
2. Cell theory was eventually formulated in 1839. This is usually credited to Matthias Schleiden and Theodor Schwann. However, many other scientists like Rudolf Virchow also contributed to the theory.

Note:
1. Nucleus was described by Robert Brown in 1831.
2. Cork is a buoyant and impermeable dead tissue made up of suberin, a hydrophobic substance. It forms the outer covering of the bark of the tree.
3. Micrographia published in 1665 contains large-scale, finely detailed illustrations of some of the specimens Hooke viewed under the microscopes he designed.