Robert+Hooke

The cell was first discovered by Robert Hooke in 1665. He examined (under a coarse, compound microscope) very thin slices of cork and saw a multitude of tiny pores that he remarked looked like the walled compartments of a honeycomb. Because of this association, Hooke called them cells, the name they still bear. However, Hooke did not know their real structure or function. His cell observations gave no indication of the nucleus and other organelles found in most living cells.