Who is credited with first describing cells?

The correct attribution for the first description of cells goes to Robert Hooke. He published his findings in the book "Micrographia" in 1665, where he examined cork under a microscope and observed small, hollow structures that he called "cells" due to their resemblance to the cells of a monastery. Hooke's work laid the foundational concept of cell theory, although he was observing dead plant cells and not living organisms.

While Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, another key figure in microscopy, was the first to observe living cells such as bacteria and sperm cells at a later time, he did not use the term "cell" or describe them in the way Hooke did. The contributions of Matthias Schleiden and Theodor Schwann further developed cell theory by stating that all plants and animals are composed of cells, but they were building upon the earlier work of Hooke and others, rather than being the initial describers of cells.