How The Cell Theory Came to Be

By hala_1211

  • Zacharias Jansen- 1590

    Zacharias Jansen made the first compound microscope. Without him making this, we wouldn't have been able to find cells, which means there would have been no cell theory.

  • Robert Hooke- 1665

    Robert Hooke cut a cork in half and used a compound microscope to look at what was inside of it. Hooke saw little microscopic holes inside the cork. He saw something inside of these microscopic holes, but thought nothing of it. Although, he did decide to call the holes cells because they reminded him of jail cells.

  • Anton Van Leuwenhoek- 1674

    Anton Van Leuwenhoek decided to make his own compound microscope instead of buying one. Although it wasn't as fancy as Jansen's, it did the same thing. He decided to look at dental scrapings off of his teeth (plaque). In the dental scrapings, he found little "creatures" inside of it. He named them "animalcules". (later to be named bacteria)

  • Theodor Schwaan- 1839

    Theodor Schwaan looked at animal samples under a compound microscope. While he was looking at them, he came to the realization that animals are made up of cells. He sent his findings to Matthis Schleiden, who looked at plant samples.

  • Matthis Schleiden- 1839

    Matthis Schlieden looked at plant samples under a compound microscope. While he was looking at them, he came to the realization that plants are made up of cells. This was the same realization as Theodor Schwaan. The two worked together to create the cell theory. They came up with, "all living things are made up of one or more cells," and, "the cell is the basic unit of structure and organization in organisms". But then they got into a feud about wether or not cells came from preexisting cells...

  • Rudolph Virchow- 1855

    Rudolph Virchow came into Matthis Scheiden and Theodor Schwaan's life when the two got into a feud about the last part of the cell theory. The feud was about wether or not cells came from preexisting cells. Rudolph Virchow helped them by showing the two research that proved that cells do come from preexisting cells. With Virchow's help, the cell theory was finished...