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Robert Hooke
Robert Hooke discovered cells in 1665. Hooke examined small pieces of cork, using a homemade microscope, and saw many particles within the cork. Hooke said that these pores reminded him much of the compartments in which, monks would live in. He then gave them the name cells. Hooke was unsure of the structure or role cells played at the time. However he did notice that the spaces were empty, but he did not propse that the structures were the basic unit of life for living organisms. -
Anton Van Leeuwenhoek
Antony Van Leeuwenhoek created a microscope with magnification greater than that, of Hooks's. This enabled him to look more closely at the organisms and specimens he studied. Hooke used magnifications of 50x up to 250x. He opened up microscopic life to scientist. Leeuwenhoek is credited with the discovery of unicellular bacteria (prokaryotes). Since he was able to magnfy his objects, Leeuwenhooke could them inspect living cells. He studied sperm, bacteria, blood cells, and many other things. -
Henri Dutrochet
Henri Dutrochet's contribution to the cell theory is the discovery and naming of osmosis. Osmosis is a procss by which molecules of a solvent tend to pass through a membrane from a less cencentrated solution into a more concentrated one. This leads to equilibrium on both sides of the membrane. Dutrochet also declared that " the cell is the fundamental element of organization". He linked Plant and animal cells. -
Felix Dujardin
Dujardin was a French biologist, cytologist, and a professor of botany and zoology. Unlike Robert Hooke who examined nonliving cells, Dujardin decided to base his studies on organisms under a microscope, proposed that many living organisms are composed of a single cell. He also dicovered the presence of an internal substance in all of the living cells. He was the first to state that cells, however, were not hollow on the inside, but they consisted of jelly-like material. -
Matthais Schleiden
Matthias Schleiden had a hobby of botany. He also practiced law in Hamburg . Unlike most contemporary botanist, Schleiden preferred studying plant structures under a microscope. Under this microscope completeing his studies, Schleiden gathered that plant tissues consisted of cells. Both Schwann & Schleiden are credited for the cell theory due to their large contributions to the creating of the theory. -
Theodor Schwann
Theodor Schwann discovered that the cell is the basic unit of animal structure. He and Schleiden are creditied for their contributons to the cell theory. Schleiden for plants, Schwann for animals. Schwann spent much time studing animal tissues specifically on notocord development in tadpoled , Schwann noticed similar structures between what he had been studying and that of which Schleiden had been studying. -
Rudolph Virchow
Virchow stated that all living things come from other living things. He proposed that each cell comes from another cell. Virchow argued thta disease is caused by changes in normal cells, also known as cellular pathology. Virchow discredited the idea of spontaneous generation.