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Hooke's Cell Theory
Hooke made the discovery of cells and gained credit for discovering the building blocks of all life. His discovery was made when he was examining a thin piece of cork and saw the empty spaces in the walls and named them pores, now called cells. Hooke disproved the last theory because nobody knew about the concept of cells, they thought that life was created abruptly from inanimate materials, called spontaneous generation, this theory was abolished when Hooke discovered the cell. -
Leeuwenhoek's Cell Theory
Leeuwenhoek discovered and studied microorganisms that he named "animalcules", these included bacteria, protozoa, and rotifers. Leeuwenhoek discovered these organisms when he made his own microscope and began to investigate things with it. The discovery of these "animalcules" disproved Hooke's theory because Leeuwenhoek expanded upon the mere theory of a cell's existence, he proved that these animals, specifically bacteria, were made up of cells. -
Brown's Cell Theory
Brown discovered the nucleus of a cell. He made his discovery by studying cells in flowers in which pollen was traveling in and he noticed the pollen was going in and out of oval structures inside the cell and named this structure the nucleus. Brown disproved Leeuwenhoek's earlier model because he discovered that organisms had greater depth than just cells because these cells where made up of other structures, the nucleus, and this being the center of cellular creation. -
Schleiden's Cell Theory
Schleiden discovered that plants are made up of cells and that a plant exists from only one single cell, meaning the cell is the basic building block of all plant matter. He discovered this by viewing plants microscopically. Schleiden disproved the earlier model by expanding upon Brown's discovery of the cell nucleus in saying that cells are made up of a cell nucleus and these cells form and make up plants. -
Schwann's Cell Theory
Schwann discovered that animals are made up of cells and the cell is the most basic unit of life. He came upon his discovery by studying both plant and animal tissue under his microscope. Schwann disproved the last theory because he discovered that cells make up both plants and animals, whereas Schleiden thought that only plants were made up of cells. Schwann's theory also ended the misconception that plants and animals are made of entirely different structures. -
Virchow's Cell Theory
Virchow discovered that cells originated from other existing cells and that diseases attack normal cells, causing the cell to malfunction. He discovered this by reading the works of other men from his time, such as Remak, and collecting information from their work to form his theory. He disproved Schwann's earlier theory because he introduced the concept of cell division, stating that cells form as a result of only one cell existing before it.
