Anton van Leeuwenhoek is credited with discovering the first living cells in 1674. He used a self-made microscope to observe Spirogyra, a type of algae, in pond water.
While Robert Hooke first observed cells in 1665, he looked at dead cells in a cork, which is why he named them "cells." Leeuwenhoek's observation of the living, moving cells of Spirogyra was a groundbreaking discovery that laid the foundation for our understanding of life at its most fundamental level.
