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Robert Hooke
Robert Hooke discovered the first cell by looking at cork. He saw the tiny compartments and named them after the monistary cells. He did this by observing cork through a microscope and also was able to calculate how many cells are in a cubic inch. -
Antoni Van Leeuwenhoek
Not only did Leeuwenhoek discover a more powerful microscope using 250x, but he also used the microscope to disprove Hooke's theory that the cells were empty. He was the first to discover small globules inside the cell probably being the first sighting of the nuclei. -
Henri Dutrochet
Henri Dutrochet made the connection between plant cells and animal cells explicit, and he proposed that the cell was not just a structural but also a physiological unit: "It is clear that it constitutes the basic unit of the organized state; indeed, everything is ultimately derived from the cell" meaning, the cell is the basic unit of life. -
Felix Dujardin
Dujardin also used a microscope to make his discovery. He did not disprove anything but only added more to the cell theory. He made the conclusion that many living microorganisms are composed of a single cell. He also observed the presence of internal substance in all living cells and found it was similar. -
Matthias Schledien
He proposed that every structural element of plants is composed of cells or the products of cells. However, Schleiden insisted on priority for several ideas that were not his and clung to the idea that cells arise by a crystallization-like process either within other cells or from outside, which Dumortier had dispensed with some years earlier. -
Theodor Schwaan
Matthias Schleiden found that all plants are composed of cells, and communicated the finding to Schwann, roposed that in animals too every structural element is composed of cells or cell products. Schwann's contribution might be regarded as the more groundbreaking, since the understanding of animal structure lagged behind that of plants. In addition, Schwann made the explicit claim that the fundamental laws governing cells were identical between plants and animals. -
Rudolf Virchow
Rudolf Virchow did not disprove any theories but added even more information to the one theory. He discovered through celluar pathology that cells are produced from other cells thorugh binary fission. He observed many diffreent cells and unicellluar organisms and made the conlcusion that cells derive from other cells.
