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Robert Hooke
Robert Hooke discovered cells and was the first to use the word "cell". Hooke made this discovery by using a microscope to view a thin slice of cork. He discovered empty spaces that were spaced by walls. He called them pores or cells. Before Robert Hooke's discovery, people believed in spontaneous generation which is living organisms were produced from nonliving matter. He disproved the idea of spontaneous generation. -
Anton Van Leeuwenhoek
Anton Van Leeuwenhoek discovered single-celled organisms (protozoa) and called them animalcules. He is known as the 'Father of Microbiology' because he was the first to view a living cell. He made this discovery by viewing a sample of water from a pond. Leeuwenhoek built upon Hooke's idea but he did prove that the cells were indeed living. -
Robert Brown
Robert Brown discovered the nucleus of the cell by looking at the cells of Asclepiads and orchids through a microscope. When Brown was looking at the plant cells he saw pollen moving in and out of an oval in each cell. He named the oval the nucleus and believed the nucleus helped with fertilization and the development of the embryo in plants. Brown was not completely sure if the nucleus was in the center of the cell but he made it a possibility that it was. -
Theodor Schwann
The question of how cells were created was pondered upon for years. Schwann published a statement saying that cells could have been formed by crystallization of inorganic material inside of the cell. Schwann worked with Matthias Schleiden and built upon previous ideals of cells in order to come to the conclusion that cells make up all living things. Once again spontaneous generation was disproved. -
Matthias Schleiden
Matthias Schleiden worked with Theodor Schwann and made the contribution that plants are composed of cells. He used his microscope to make this contribution. Being that cells make up all living things it became fact that plants are living things as well. -
Rudolf Virchow
Rudolf Virchow expanded Robert Remark's idea of cell division. He did this in order to make people further believe the theory of cell division. He did this by publishing an editorial and used the saying "Omnis cellula e cellula", which means cells originate from cells. Although this was years after Hooke, Virchow also disproved the idea of spontaneous generation.
