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The 1st Compound Microscope
Zacharias Jansen, Dutch spectacle maker, is credited with making the first compound microscope, as well as the first telescope. Fellow Dutchman Anton von Leeuwenhoek decides to make his own microscope, which looked more like a tiny paddle. Leeuwenhoek writes to his English colleague Robert Hooke about his findings. -
Spontaneous Generation
Before the "cell theory" came to be, many biologists developed "a theory of spontaneous generation", a theory which stated that animals like worms and frogs could spontaneously emerge from mud or water, or that maggots emerged from rotting meat. -
The Origins Of The "Cell"
While looking at a cork under the microscope, Hooke observes that the chambers looked like "cells", which is where the name cells originated. -
The Discovery Of Bacteria
While looking at dental scrapings through his microscope, Leeuwenhoek accidentally discovers what is now known as "Bacteria", even though it was not originally named that. -
The Observation Of The Nucleus
Robert Brown, a botanist, was looking at an orchid when he spotted the nucleus of a cell in the epidermis. Leeuwenhoek had previously seen a nucleus, but dismissed its relevance to his research. -
Matthias Schleiden And Theodor Schwann
In Colonge, German botanist Matthias Schleiden was looking at all different species of plant under a microscope when he realised that all plants were made of cells. In Hamburg, another German scientist named Theodor Schwann was looking at slides of animal cells when he realised that all animals were made of cells. He sent his findings to others in the same field as he, and it was Schleiden who met up with Schwann to begin working on "The Cell Theory". -
The Third Part Of The Cell Theory
Schleiden and Schwann's "cell theory" created bad blood as they could not come to agree on the third part of the cell theory; Schwann argued that cells came from pre-existing cells, whereas Schleiden thought that cells just crystallised into existence, which he called "free cell formation". Rudolph Virchow, stepped in with research and evidence to prove that cells did come from other cells. This was however not Virchow's own research, as it was taken from Jewish scientist Robert Remak. -
Louis Pasteur
Louis Pasteur, a Pasteur, made a groundbreaking discovery which will be updated when i give more of a sh*t. -
Walter Flemming
Walter Flemming was the first person to conduct a systematic study of chromosomes during their division. He called the process "mitosis" and by doing the study, he also proved Virchow/Remak's research about cells coming from pre-existing cells.