He made this discovery in 1665 while observing a thin slice of cork under a microscope. He noticed small, box-like compartments that reminded him of the cells of a monastery. He named these compartments "cells" because of their resemblance to these rooms.
It's important to note that Hooke did not see living cells. He was looking at the empty cell walls of dead plant cells in the cork tissue. However, his discovery paved the way for further investigations into the structure of living organisms.
