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Robert Hooke:
Contribution: Robert Hooke was the first to discover the cell and name the cell. How was it discovered: Hooke used an early compound microscope to look at a nonliving slice of cork, Hooke saw the Cork was made up of empty little chambers, of which he named cells. How Disproved Previous: This was the first contribution to the cell theory, so this contribution did not disprove any other contribution. -
Antoine van Leeuwenhoek:
Contribution: Leeuwenhoek realized that the cells were not empty and lifeless, but are living and are everywhere. How Discovered: Leeuwenhoek used a single-lens microscope to observe water from the pond, and saw that there was bacteria, he later realized that bacteria is everywhere. How Disproved Previous: Leeuwenhoek realized that the cells were not empty, but were full of cell organelles. -
Robert Brown:
Contribution: Brown was the first to recognize and name the nucleus. How Discovered: An English botanist, was studying plants and saw an opaque part in the cell, which he believed to be an important part of the cell and after naming it "areola" he named it the nucleus. How Disproved Other: The previous theory contribution was only aware that the cell was not empty and was made up of little parts, these parts were not named, Brown started the process of naming the cell organelles. -
Matthias Jakob Schleiden:
Contribution: Schleiden proposed that all plant tissues are composed of cells and that cells are the building blocks of all plants. This was the first generalized about cells. How Discovered: Schleiden was a professor who spent his time observing plants, with a microscope, he observed the cell's nucleus, the cell, and cell tissue and created a theory. How Disproved: His discovery disproved that the nucleus was the most important part, but that cells were the most important part of plants. -
Theodor Schwann:
Contribution: Schwann reached the conclusion that not only plants had cells, but animals tissue contained cells, he ended the debates that plants and animals were fundamentally different in structure. How Developed: This theory was developed by using a microscope and by observing the cell tissue from embryo to adulthood. How Disproved Previous: This theory proved that there was not only cells that made up tissue in plants but the cells and cell tissue is also in the animals. -
Rudolf Virchow:
Contribution: Cells develop only from existing cells, he was the first to propose that diseased cells come from healthy cells. How Discovered: Virchow was studying the cells of a leukemia patient and as he studied the cells, he saw the cells with mitosis creating other cells, and the infected cells, of which he thought was healthy produced infected cells. How Disproved Previous: The previous theory did involve that cells only come from cells, but the cells come from cells and not nuclei.
