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1500 BCE
Ancient Egyptians
SInce around 1500 B.C., the Ancient Egyptians had a better understanding of the human body than the rest of the world would have for centuries. This was due to their process of mummification, in which they removed organs from the mummy-to-be. In this process they learned about these organs and how they functions. The largest scientific discoveries they made was that the human body is made up of very many parts, all working together. -
385 BCE
Aristotle
A greek philosopher, his contributions towards cell theory include many dissections (and his discoveries on the nature of life) and his simple classes of living things. His classifications of different species may suggest that he had knowledge of connections between every organism. This is shown through the first principle of cell theory. -
1000
Medieval Europeans
Europeans had begun to develop an interest in the scientific nature of life by medieval times. Biology is able to be traced back its formation to this time; thusly so can cell theory. -
1543
Andreas Vesalius
Andreas Vesalius was an anatomist who had an effect on cell theory through his studies of the human body. His discoveries in dissecting human cadavers helped show how cells can work together in the human body to form complex organs, and therefore are the basic units of life. -
Hans and Zacharias Janssen
As the inventors of the first microscope, these two men could be considered the ones who allowed for cell theory to created at all. They made their microscope around the 1590’s. The microscope was later improved by other scientists, who used it to first discover the cell. -
Robert Hooke
Robert Hooke discovered that plants were made of boxes when he observed fossil wood. He called these boxes cells as they looked like little rooms, thus leading to the beginning of cell theory. He wrote the book Micrographia in 1665, outlining his discoveries. -
Francesco Redi
Redi was the creator of the quote “Onme vivum ex ovo” (or all life comes from an egg), describing the third principle of cell theory. He strove to prove that life did not occur spontaneously, as it appeared with maggots on meat and fish in the sea. His findings convinced him that these creatures did not come from nowhere. -
Anton Van Leeuwenhoek
Leeuwenhoek’s interest in glass lenses led him to incent a lens that could magnify an object 270x. He used this microscope to make biological discoveries. He is considered the “father of microbiology, as microscopes were essential in the creation of cell theory. -
John Needham
An microscopist who researched the theory of spontaneous creation in organisms. His experiments included heating samples of broth that were pre-checked for microorganisms, and then examining the broth, finding microorganisms. He came to the conclusion that spontaneous generation is possible, however in modern times it is known that he hadn’t heated the broth enough to kill the organisms. His results were later disproved. -
Lazzaro Spallanzani
Spallanzani proved Needham’s findings wrong by using procedures that Needham had neglected, including proper heating and airtight flasks. This gave him results that proved spontaneous generation to be false, and the third principle of cell theory to be correct. -
Jean Baptists Lamark
He produced the flawed hereditary theory “inheritance of acquired traits” in 1801. Scientists such as Charles Darwin knew that he was a good zoologist and his theory was what led to the theory of evolution. He discovered that the environment can make organisms change, and that these changes were passed down the generations. -
Lorenz Oken
He created new classifications for animals based on their evolutionary path; these included Dermatoza (invertebrates), Glossozoa (fish with the first tongues(?)), Rhinozoa (reptiles) Otozoa (birds with externally open ears) Ophthalmozoa (mammals with all sensory organs). His classifications showed an understanding of all similarities between organisms, which has led back to cells being the fundamental unit of life. -
Robert Brown
Brown was a botanist. He observed plant cells through a microscope. These observations led him to discover the nucleus, and he was the first scientist to describe the nucleus’ natural occurrence in living organisms’s cells. He named the nucleus and helped to develop cell theory by trying to understand the nucleus’ role in the cell. -
Theodor Schwann
Schwann developoed cell theory, with the help of other scientists, in 1837. This summarized his findings and the findings of other researchers. He also discovered that cells do not spontaneously appearm, thus leading to the third principle of cell theory. His greatest contribution, however, was the organization off all the research of cells in order to create cell theory. -
Matthias Schleoden
Schleoden was another one of the founders of cell theory. In his work with Schwann to create the final version of cell theory, he played a crucial role in the development of cell theory. He also worked with other scientists on the importance of the nucleus in cell decision. -
Rudolf Virchow
Virchow created the concept of pathological processes using cell theory. This concept outline the development of diseases in an organism. According to his process, diseases arise within an organism’s individual cells and then travel to other cells based on the second principle of cell theory. -
Louis Pasteur
Famous for his invention of pasteurization, he is also known for other accomplishments. He helped disprove spontaneous generation and created the theory of biogenesis (which states that all life comes from preexisting life).