-
Hooke
Robert Hooke created technical ways of looking through a microscope more effectively. While looking at a cork through a microscope in 1665, Hooke saw little empty spaces contained by walls and called them "cells." He was credited for the discovery of the cell. -
Leeuwenhoek
After reading Hooke's book, "Micrographia," Antoni Van Leeuwenhoek became interested in attempting science. He built microscopes that had a magnification of 250X which gave him an advantage over Hooke's 50X magnification. Because of this, Leeuwenhoek saw beyond the cells that Hooke claimed to be empty and noticed cells had more in them than Hooke thought. Leeuwenhoek made the observation of the composition of cells and became one of the first to see the cell nucleus. -
Dutrochet
Henri Dutrochet was a physiologist who stated that new cells arise from within old cells. In addition to this, Dutrochet discovered the concept of osmosis. -
Dujardin
While looking at a group of Foraminifera in 1835, Felix Dujardin observed the protoplasm of the cells and used that to prove the theory that microscopic organisms have the same organs as higher animals. -
Schleiden
Matthias Schleiden enjoyed spending time observing plants under a microscope while studying botany. In 1838, while being a professor of botany, he wrote a book and stated in that book that all plants are made up of cells. -
Schwann
Theodor Schwann added to the findings of Matthias Schleiden by stating that not only are all plants made up of cells, but animals and tissues are as well. -
Virchow
Rudolf Virchow was a scientist and politician of the 1800s who agrred with Robert Remak on the division of cells. Virchow used political practices he knew to help spread Remak's findings to people around the world.