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With the help of his father Hans, Zacharias Jansen created the first compound microscope in 1595, which led to the discovery of cells.
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The Flemish physician, chemist, and physicist van Helmont conducted a 5 year experiment with a willow tree that supported spontaneous generation.
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English scientist Robert Hooke used a compoun microscope to view a thin piece of cork and became the first person to see cells.
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Dutch biologist Anton van Leewenhoek improved Jansen's compound microscope in about 1670, and, as a result of his improvements, he was the first to observe single-celled animals called protozoa.
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German naturalist, botanist, biologist, and ornithologist Lorenz Oken came up with the cell theory.
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English Botanist Brown discovered the nucleus in plant cells.
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German botanist Mattias Schleiden study plants and came to the conclusion that the cell is the basic building block of all matter.
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German physiologist Theodor Schwann discovered the digestive enzyme in pepsin in 1839, discovered animals had cells, and stated the cell theory.
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Roelliker came to the conclusion that sperm cells and egg cells are cells too.
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Applied cell theory to public health and stated that all cells develope from existing cells.
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Disproved spontaneous generation with his heated broth test.
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Aristotle believed in spontaneous generation, which cell theory disproves.
