Whose scientist made the first recorded observations of cells using the compound microscope?
I would agree with the previous poster. The key word in your question is “compound” microscope. Leeuwenhoek precedes Robert Hooke, but he was dealing with a single lens system….although the magnification of his simple device was impressive. Robert Hooke was a member of the Royal Society and was expected to amuse the nobility with science demonstrations. He decided to use his simple microscope for that purpose, and showed them things like flies magnified, and what cork, sliced thinly, looked like. The vacant holes in the cork reminded Hooke of Monk’s Cells, so he called those structures cells even though they were not…. and the name stuck for our basic unit of life.
