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330 BCE
Aristotle
Made a theory about embryos, that they (embryos) gradually develop into "undifferentiated material." -
Zacharias Janssen
Believed to create the first microscope, and/or at least the first truly compound microscope. -
Jan Baptist van Helmont
Partially discovered photosynthesis, studied the cells of plants and the way they gain their food. -
Robert Hooke
Discovered plant cells, figuring out that the whole thing is made up of tiny structures (cells). -
Anton van Leeuwenhoek
Discovered single cell organisms and blood cells, and made over 500 microscopes. -
Lorenz Oken
Studied, and wrote a book on, how all living things come from and consist of cells. -
Robert Brown
Credited for finding the nucleus of the cell, best known for discovering the movement of microscopic particles in a solution, now called "Brownian motion." -
Theodor Schwann
Credited for his cell theory and defining the cell as the basic unit of animal structure. -
Matthias Schleiden
Theorized and proved that all plant tissue is made of cells. Declared cells as the basic building block for plants. -
Albrecht von Roelliker
Discovered that sperm and eggs are made of cells, setting up the fact that humans are always made of cells. -
Rudolf Virchow
Theorized that all living cells come from pre-existing living cells, and that theory was proven to be true for all things so far. -
Louis Pasteur
Developed the process of cleaning a substance, named after him as "pasteurization." -
George Palade
Discovered previously unknown organelles in the cells.
