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Light Microscope
Two Dutch spectacle makers, Zaccharias Janssen and his son Hans, while experimenting with several lenses in a tube, discovered that nearby objects appeared greatly enlarged. -
First Microscope
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Hooke
Robert Hooke published the first drawings of a microorganism. -
Organelle First Seen
Cells were first seen in 1665 by Robert Hooke (who named them after monks' cells in a monastery), and were studied in more detail by Leeuwehoek using a primitive microscope. -
Spontaneous Generation
Spontaneous generation refers to both the supposed process by which life would systematically emerge from sources other than seeds, eggs or parents and to the theories which explained the apparent phenomenon. -
Cell Theory
Cell theory refers to the idea that cells are the basic unit of structure in every living thing. -
Redi
Francesco Redi, an Italian physician, did an experiment with flies and wide-mouth jars containing meat. -
Leeuwenhoek
Discovered blood corpuscles, capillaries, and the structure of muscles and nerves, and he first described the spermatozoa of insects, dogs, and humans. -
Spallanzani
Lazzaro Spallanzani, an Italian abbot and biologist, tried several variations on Needham’s soup experiments. -
Schleiden
Schleiden proposed that all plants are composed of cells; together with his friend Theodor Schwann he formulated the cell theory of life. -
Schwann
Schwann proposed that all organisms are composed of cells. -
Pasteur
Louis Pasteur, as he published the results of an experiment he did to disproved spontaneous generation in these microscopic organisms. -
Electron Microscope
German physicist Ernst Ruska and German electrical engineer Max Knoll constructed the prototype electron microscope, capable of four-hundred-power magnification; the apparatus was a practical application of the principles of electron microscopy.