Robert Hooke - 

 

Cover of Robert Hooke's publication Micrographia.  Hooke details the manufacture of the microscope he used.  He also describes how a short focus lens is constructed.

In a flame he draws a thin fiber from Venetian glass and melts it into a tiny bulb, which is then ground and polished. 

Within the publication more than 30 detailed drawings appeared including the famous one from cork that provided the first documentation of a single cell.  When he examined hair he noted that some were split a the ends, which is quite possibly the first notation for that as well.

An example of the details in the drawings can be seen in the illustrations below of cork and a flea.  It was in his description of cork in 1663 that Hooke first used the term "cork" even though he did not fully realize how universally important his discovery would become.  

 

 

As it turned out, the flea in this illustration was the carrier of the plague that was sweeping through Europe at time.  However, this was not known by Hooke.

 

Ceratophyllus faciatus

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