The first person to see a cell was Robert Hooke in 1665. He was looking through a compound microscope, a type of microscope that uses multiple lenses to magnify an object.

It's important to note that Hooke didn't actually see individual cells as we understand them today. He observed the structure of cork, which appeared to him as a series of small, box-like compartments, which he named "cells" because they resembled the cells of a monastery.