Back to Featured Projects Seeing Cells Exhibit Overview Seeing Cells in Life Theory of Cells as Basic Units of Life Protoplasm as the Living Stuff Cell Specialization From Fertilization to Organisms Presenting and Representing "The" Cell Experimental Manipulations Resolving the Inside of Cells Inside Living Cells Seeing How Cell Parts Move Seeing Cell Aggregates Designing Synthetic Cells Imagining Cells Seeing Cells Videos Home Groundbreaking Research at the Research Centers Eugene Bell Center Featured Projects Seeing Cells Exhibit Seeing Cells in Life The 17th century brought microscopes, which made looking at small living material possible. Observers recorded and shared observations through letters and publications, with illustrations to show others what they saw. Download Seeing Cells in Life In his 1665 Micrographia, British microscopist Robert Hooke applied the term “cell” to the empty spaces he observed in slices of cork, vegetables, and sea shells. His cells were units of organization rather than living things. HoverTouch to magnify Hooke's Microscope Hooke 1665 1 HoverTouch to magnify Cells observed in cork Hooke 16652 Meanwhile, in the Netherlands, Anton van Leeuwenhoek focused on living materials. He saw wiggling ovals in scrapings from his mouth and called them “animalcules.” Non-moving disks in blood he called “corpuscles.” HoverTouch to magnify Dental plaque animalcules Leeuwenhoek 16833 Rare Books Collection HoverTouch to magnify Blood corpuscules Leeuwenhoek 17004 HoverTouch to magnify van Leeuwenhoek Board c. 19136 HoverTouch to magnify Leeuwenhoek's microscope Baker 17535 Others also began to see organized units of life that they called cells. They focused on observing and describing what they saw and did not yet develop a theory of cells. That came in the 19th century with improved microscopes. What was that cell theory? Exhibit Home Next panel Download Seeing Cells in Life Hooke, Robert. Micrographia: or, Some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies Made By Magnifying Glasses. With Observations and Inquiries Thereupon. London: Printed by J. Martyn and J. Allestry, 1665. Schem. I, Figures 5 and 6. Hooke, Robert. Micrographia: or, Some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies Made By Magnifying Glasses. With Observations and Inquiries Thereupon. London: Printed by J. Martyn and J. Allestry, 1665. Schem. XI, Figure 1. Leeuwenhoek, Anton van. 1684. "An abstract of a letter from Mr. Anthony Leevvenhoeck at Delft, dated Sep. 17. 1683. Containing some microscopical observations, about animals in the scurf of the teeth, the substance call'd worms in the nose, the cuticula consisting of scales" Philosophical Transactions (14) 159: 568-574. Figure 3, A-G. Leeuwenhoek, Anton van. 1701. "III. Part of a letter from Mr. Lewenhoek, concerning the circulation and globules of the blood in butts." Philosophical Transactions (22) 263: 552-560. Figures 1-4. Baker, Henry. Employment for the Microscope. London: Printed for R. and J. Dodsley, 1753. Page 440, Plate XVII, Figure VIII. Board, Ernest, Leeuwenhoek With His Microscope, Oil on canvas, c. 1912, (Wellcome Collection).