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The first person to name cells was Robert Hooke, who lived from 1635-1703. He was a mathematician and physicist who also happened to be the first person to make a compound microscope--a microscope with more than one lens to magnify things. He put thin slices of cork under the microscope and saw these sorts of squares. He thought these squares looked a lot like the rooms which monks stayed in, which were also called cells (also just like in a jail). Importantly, he also put other slices of plants, like onions, under the microscope and saw the same sort of square pattern--showing that the pattern wasn't just unique to cork. In reality, what this guy was seeing wasn't really 'cells' but the cell wall. It took other techniques to be able to see cell membranes, the sort of 'bag' which keeps the contents of a cell inside the cell. All cells are surrounded by cell membranes, and only some, like plants also have a cell wall.

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Ila Harris

Lvl 10
3y ago

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