How did Robert Hooke and Anton van Leeuwenhoek contribute to our standing of cells?
He was a great biologist and is sometimes credited with the discovery of the compound microscope. In 1665 he published his famous “Micrographia”. Hooke also coined the term “cell” as used in biology, based on his observation of cork cell tissue. Leeuwenhoek succeeded in making some of the most important discoveries in the history of biology. It was he who discovered bacteria, free-living and parasitic microscopic protists, sperm cells, blood cells, microscopic nematodes and rotifers, and much more. His researches, which were widely circulated, opened up an entire world of microscopic life to the awareness of scientists.
