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Robert Hooke
He found the cell in 1665 when he published his book "Micrographia". He contributed to the founding of the cell by figuring out that the cell was even a thing! He was the first person to discover the cell while studying a piece of a cork under a microscope. This was better than the previous models because he actually established that cells were a thing. He proved that spontaneous generation was invalid and life had to be made up of something besides matter. -
Antony van Leeuwenhoek
Antony van Leeuwenhoek began to discover the cell, on September 7, 1674 when looking at a lake and describing a green substance floating over the water. He then began to write letters to the Royal Society, telling them of his discoveries. He contributed by discovering the first living organisms like animal sperm and plant cells. This was better than Hooke's model because it showed that not only were non-living things made up of cells, but living ones as well. -
Robert Brown
The year Robert Brown discovered the center of the cell was in 1833. He discovered the center of the cell when he was looking at the sex organs of a plant and saw " pollen grains seemed to be darting around in a random manner." (Robert Brown Facts). He then started looking at other organisms to see if these things he'd found existed elsewhere. Just like he'd thought, there were. He then named these particles the "nucleus". His model was better because he examined the parts of the cell. -
Matthias Jakob Schleiden
His time of discovery was in 1845. Schleiden showed people that all plants were made of plant cells and that the plant cell was the basis of botany. He did this by studying live plants unlike other people who would study dried specimen. His model was better than the previous model because he specified that cells were the basis of life and you can't have plants without the cells. -
Theodor Schwann
Theodor Schwann made his discovery in the year 1838, but did not publish the work until 1839. Schwann further proved that cells, both animal and plant, made up the tissue while also saying that "traced the development of many adult tissues from early embryo stages"(Theodor Schwann Facts). He figured this out by looking at plant and animal cells and under a microscope. This information was better than the last because, he showed us that animals also had cells and how cell and genetics connect. -
Rudolf Virchow
Virchow made his discovery in the year 1855. He discovered that cells were the basic units of life and diseases came from healthy cells when exposed to the disease or having bad living conditions. He discovered this by looking at cells under a microscope and noticing that they were infected. This improved on the last model by explaining that diseases stemmed from healthy cells.