Microbiology is the study of extremely small living things called microorganisms. Anton van Leeuwenhoek first observed microorganisms in the 1600s using one of the earliest compound microscopes. Robert Hooke was the first to observe individual cells using a microscope in 1663. The cell theory states that all living things are composed of cells, cells are the basic unit of life, and new cells are produced from existing cells. Cells are categorized as either eukaryotic, which have a nucleus, or prokaryotic, which do not have a nucleus.