Anton van leeuwenhoek was the first to refer to cells as what?

One of the first scientists to refer to living cells.

Explanation:

Anton Van Leeuwenhoek was a Dutch tradesman and scientist. He lived from  24th October 1632-26th August 1723  in Delft, Dutch Republic. He is known as ''a father of microbiology''. He was one of the first microbiologists.

He discovered how to grind glass together and further experimented. Leeuwenhoek made his own 270x magnification compound microscope. Nowadays, microscopes magnifications range from 200x-10.000.000x magnification. The discovery of the cell was made through the invention of the microscope between 1665-1838. So, his experiment has led to cell theory.

Anton Van Leeuwenhoek studied certain approaches to create lenses to observe cloth. He was one of the first scientists to refer to living cells when he observed a large number of single-celled organisms. He named those organisms animalcules (small animals). Further, he was the first to discover their dimensions using microscopes. He used samples and measurements to estimate the number of microorganisms in units of water. He was one of the first scientists to observe cells. His main discoveries are infusoria (protist in modern zoological classification), bacteria, red blood cells, blood flow in capillaries, the vacuole of the cell, spermatozoa and the muscular fibres. He was as well one of the first scientists known to use a histological stain to colour specimens observed with safron.

He made more than 500 optical lenses. Additionally, he created a minimum 25 single-lenses microscopes (5 cm long). All of them were made of silver or copper frames. Their magnification power was up to 275 times. They are used by placing the lens in the vicinity if the eye, while looking at the direction of the sun.

Thus, there are three major parts of the cell theory: all organisms are made of cells, all cells are produced by other living cells and the cell is the most basic unit of life. These 3 parts were discovered between 1665-1838.