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Robert Hooke
Using a primitive compound microscope, Hooke described the honeycomb-like systems he observed in a cork slice. He first use the term 'cells' referring to units in plant tissue. He was only able to pinpoint cell walls because cork cells are dead. He published his findings in his renowned work, the micographia. He was the first person to expand the idea of the "units of life". Before him, cells were not an internationally known concept. -
Antony van Leeuwenhoek
Leeuwenhoek was the first person to observe single celled animals and to witness a live cell. He was able to observe and describe red blood cells discovering "those globules in a healthy body must be very flexible and pliant, if they are to pass through the small capillary veins and arteries, and that in their passage they change into an oval figure, reassuming their roundness." Before him, scientist had never witnessed a live cell, so this portrayed an accurate depiction of a living cell. -
Robert Brown
Robert Brown named and described the nucleus in plant cells by using microscopes in new ways. He was also able to study the functions of the cytoplasm in the cells and compare and contrast angiosperms and gymnosperms, which many scientist thought were the same thing. Before Brown, the nucleus was overlooked and was only elaborated on when he observed plant cells and noticed a recurring pattern between the nuclei. -
Matthias Schleiden
Schleiden was apart of the duo (schleiden and Schwann) that discovered animal cells have a nucleus just like the ones discovered in plants. They were able to do this by examining notochords under the microscope. Schleiden had believed that cells and their nuclei are the building blocks of plants, beginning in the embryo. He elaborated and contributed to Robert Browns discoveries by adding additional information about the importance of cells, such as relating plant and animal cells. -
Theodor Schwann
Schwann was able to verify that all living things are composed of cells. He believed that new cells form from previously existing cells, all while observing animal tissues. It wasn't until he noticed a pattern between the cells brown was describing and the ones he was seeing in animal cells that he could confirm that every cell had a nucleus. Before Schwann the concept of a universal nucleus (all cells have a nucleus) did not exist. -
Rudolf Virchow
Virchow was the first to demonstrate that disease presented itself only in individual cells caused by malfunctioning cells. For this to happen, he had to accept that cells must duplicate from existing cells. He discovered this by performing a series of autopsies involving microscopic examination of tissue. Before Virchow, diseased cells were an unknown concept. His experimentation and discoveries backed up that cells form from existing cells.
