Question

In 1665, Robert Hooke, an English scientist, published his book Micrographia, in which he described that pieces of cork viewed under a microscope presented small cavities, similar to pores and filled with air. Based on knowledge discovered later on, what do you think those cavities were composed of? What is the historical importance of this observation?

Answer 1

Those cavities were plant cell. Plant cell is composed of various parts: Cell wall, nucleus, plastid, chloroplasts, mitochondria, vacuoles etc. Cell wall is composed of celulose and proteins. Nucleus. mitochondria and plastid contains DNA composed of nitrogenous bases, sugar and phosphates in addition to proteins.

Historical imortance: The observation by Robert Hook was a milestone in biology. That observation started the discovery about cell as unit of life. In fact Robert Hook only coined the term cell.