Cell Theory Timeline

Robert Hooke

Oct 3, 1665

Year of discovery:1665
Contribution: he was the first person who found and named cells although he didn't find the true function of a cell
Found by looking at cork, which is a plant cell, under a microscope and saw tiny pores which he said looked like walled compartments that monks live in, which are called cells
he improved the model of the cell by finding the cell

Leeuwenhoek

Oct 3, 1674

Year:1674
Contribution: created lenses with curves that gave the ability to magnify up to 270x, which added to the knowledge of the cell because it allowed a clearer picture, which allowed more details to be seen. This also led to his discovery of microorganisms aka "animalcules" which helped to form the basic cell theory and discredited spontaneous generation (production of a living organism from nonliving matter)

Brown

Oct 3, 1833

Year: 1833
Contribution: found the nucleus of a cell by looking at plants under a microscope
he wasn't the first to find the nucleus but is credited with it because he named it, described its function and what it was.
This added to the knowledge of the cell by providing more detailed information about whats its inside a cell and their functions

Schlieden

Oct 3, 1838

Year: 1838
Discovered that cells where the basic building block of all plant matter and that all plants are made up of cells. Was a microscopic researcher and said that the way plants grow is by adding new cells.
Found by looking under at plants under a microscope. Added to the model of the cell by showing that cells were plants and also bacteria.

Schwann

Oct 3, 1839

Year:1839
Discovered that yeast was tiny plant-like organism. He examined and added animal cells to Schledion's cell theory, which improved the previous cell model, and also said that all living things are composed of cells. Stated that cells are the basic unit of life which became known as part of the cell theory
He found these things by looking at plants and animal tissue under a microscope

Virchow

Oct 3, 1855

Year:1855
He improved the knowledge of a cell because he discovered that new cells form from the division of other cells. He found this by looking at things under a microscope.
Was the first person to find and describe leukemia.
Found that diseases didn't effect the whole organism but rather a particular group of cells. This helped identify and diagnose diseases. He found this by examining unhealthy tissue.