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Originated the theory that an organism develops gradually form undifferentiated material, later called embryos.
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He created the first optical microscope.
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Partially discovered the process of photosynthesis.
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He was the first to observe cells under a microscope and named cells. He said they looked like small rooms.
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He learned to grind lenses and assemble them into simple microscopes. He also reported that he had observed "little animals" (protozoa) while looking through a microscope.
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He maintained that all organic beings originate from and consist of vesicles or cells.
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He discovered the nucleus in the cell and discovered the continuous motion of particles in a solution, which he later called Brownian Motion.
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The first to discover that all plant tissues are composed of cells and that an embryonic plant arose from a single cell. He declared that the cell is the basic building block of all plant matter.
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Published a book that included the first statement of cell theory: all living things are made up of cells. He was also considered a founder of cell theory.
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He discovered that sperm cells and egg cells are also cells. He also helped confirm that cells come from pre-existing cells and added the idea that tissue should be studied and understood as a mass of individual cells.
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Proposed the idea that all living cells must arise from pre-existing cells.
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Disproved the idea of spontaneous generation with an experiment that firmly established cell theory beyond doubt and solidified the basic steps of the scientific method.
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Discovered previously unknown organelles in the cell, ribosomes, where the cell's formation of proteins takes place. He also identified the paths proteins take through the cell.