LIFE SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -In 1665, Robert Hooke was the first to observe cork cells and their characteristic hexagonal shape, using the first optical microscope, which was invented by him at that time. With the evolution of imaging techniques, the structure of cork has been analysed with greater accuracy over time.

Detailed explanation-2: -Hooke detailed his observations of this tiny and previously unseen world in his book, Micrographia. To him, the cork looked as if it was made of tiny pores, which he came to call “cells” because they reminded him of the cells in a monastery.

Detailed explanation-3: -What Hooke saw looked like a piece of honeycomb. The cork was full of small empty compartments separated by thin walls. He called the compartments “pores, or cells.” He estimated that every cubic inch of cork had about twelve hundred million of these cells.

Detailed explanation-4: -In the 1660s, Robert Hooke looked through a primitive microscope at a thinly cut piece of cork. He saw a series of walled boxes that reminded him of the tiny rooms, or cellula, occupied by monks. Medical historian Dr. Howard Markel discusses Hooke’s coining of the word “cell."

Detailed explanation-5: -The cell was first discovered and named by ROBERT HOOKE in 1665. He remarked that it looked strangely similar to cellula or small rooms which monks inhabited, thus deriving the name. However what Hooke actually saw was the dead cell walls of plant cells (cork) as it appeared under the microscope.