Cell Theory - Cory Washburn

Louis Pasteur sets out to officially disprove spontaneous generation.

1860 BCE

Louis Pasteur sets up a classic experiment to prove cell theory and disprove spontaneous generation. https://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/optics/timeline/people/janssen.html

Aristotle begins to establish principles of generation.

350 BCE

Figured out developing organisms went through several stages before they were done forming. https://embryo.asu.edu/pages/aristotle-384-322-bce#:~:text=Through%20his%20study%20of%20chick,a%20theory%20later%20called%20epigenesis.

Zacharias Jansen creates the first compound microscope.

Jan 1, 1590

First compound microscope https://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/optics/timeline/people/janssen.html

Jan Baptist van Helmont made an early advancement in discovering photosynthesis.

Jan 1, 1635

He found out that the mass of the entire plant was much more than the weight of the displaced original pounds of soil. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jan-Baptista-van-Helmont

Hooke's first cell sighting.

Jan 1, 1665

Robert Hooke looked through a thin slice of cork under his microscope and saw a honeycomb structure made of cells. https://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/optics/timeline/people/janssen.html

Anton Van Leeuwenhoek improves telescope

Jan 1, 1670

Scientist Anton Van Leeuwenhoek, greatly improved the microscope to the point it could see single celled organisms that lived in a drop pond. He called these sightings "animalcules." https://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/optics/timeline/people/janssen.html

Lorenz Oken states all living things are made of cells.

Jan 1, 1820

Lorenz Oken was trained in medicine at Freiburg university and made the statement all things are made of cells. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Lorenz-Oken

Matthias Schleiden proposed all plant tissue are composed of cells.

Jan 1, 1839

Proposed all plant tissues are composed of cells. https://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/optics/timeline/people/janssen.html

Theodor Schwann reinforces cell theory.

Jan 1, 1839

While at dinner with Schleiden, he spoke about the plant tissue discovery which led to him testing meats, where he found the same conclusion. https://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/optics/timeline/people/janssen.html

Albrecht von Roelliker discovers sperm and eggs are made of cells.

Jan 1, 1840

Roelliker discovers sperm and eggs are made of cells furthering cell theory greatly. https://www.softschools.com/timelines/cell_theory_timeline/96/#:~:text=Albrecht%20von%20Roelliker%20discoveres%20that%20sperm%20and%20eggs%20are%20also%20cells.&text=Carl%20Heinrich%20Braun%20reworks%20the,the%20basic%20unit%20of%20life.&text=Rudolf%20Virchow%2C%20a%20German%20physiologist,part%20to%20the%20cell%20theory.&text=This%20translates%20as%20all%20cells%20develop%20only%20from%20existing%20cells.

Rudolf Virchow extended work of cells with new levels to the theory.

Jan 1, 1858

Proposed all living cells come from living cells. https://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/optics/timeline/people/janssen.html

Robert Brown discovers the nucleous.

Jan 1, 1865

discovers the nucleous furthering the theory that everything comes from cells. https://study.com/academy/lesson/robert-brown-cell-theory-inventions-discoveries.html#:~:text=Brown%20published%20his%20research%20findings,half%20of%20the%20cell%20theory.