The discovery of cells benefited from the development and development of optical microscopes. The first microscope was invented by Dutch optician Hans Janssen in 1604.
In 1665, the British physicist Robert Hooke (1635-1703) used a microscope he designed and built to observe slices of oak cork and found that there were many cells in them, like honeycombs. , called "cella", this was the first time humans discovered cells. However, what Hooke discovered was only the dead cell wall. Hooke's discovery was of seminal significance to the establishment and development of cytology. Since then, biologists have used the word "cell" to describe the basic structure of organisms.
Hooke compiled his observations of various objects into a book and published the book "Micrograph Atlas", which included the famous cork slice cell diagram.
In 1674, the Dutch cloth merchant Antonie vanLeeuwenhoek (1632～1723)
In order to check the quality of the cloth, he personally ground the lens and equipped a high-power microscope (300 times), and observed blood cells, protozoa in pond water droplets, human and mammalian sperm. This was the first time that humans had observed complete living cells. Leeuwenhoek wrote and reported his observations to the Royal Society, which was fully recognized by the Royal Society, and soon became a world-famous person.
Leeuwen Hook devoted his life to exploring the microscopic world and published 402 papers. Among them, "The Secrets of Nature Discovered by Leeuwen Hook" is the earliest monograph on the study of microorganisms.