Cell history - Timeline

Malpighi made many drawings of his observations, like the ones in the engraving on the left. In this Malpighi drawing some of the observations he made of plant tissues can be seen

The engraving on the left shows some drawings of the microorganisms that Leeuwenhoek observed using microscopes he made himself

The engraving on the left shows one of Hooke’s drawings of his observations of a sheet of cork. When he saw the small, honeycomb-like compartments on the sheet, Hooke called them “cells”

Brown discovered that there was a structure in plant cells: he called it the “nucleus.”

Schleiden came to the conclusion that the cell is the unit of structure in plants

Schwann concluded that all animals are also made of cells.

Virchow concluded that every cell carried out the three vital functions.

Santiago Ramón y Cajal was able to observe that this tissue, which appeared to be fibrous and not cellular, is, in fact, made up of cell

Marcelo Malpighi He is considered to be the father of microscopy.

Anton van Leeuwenhoek He manufactured many microscopes and used them to observe microorganisms

Robert Hooke he studied a sheet of cork with a simple microscope

Robert Brown Thanks to developments in microscopes, he was able to observe the inside of plant cells in more detail.

Matthias Schleiden German botanist

Theodor Schwann A German physiologist and antomist

Rudolf Virchow A German doctor

Santiago Ramón y Cajal He proved that the cell theory also applied to nervous tissue.

In the 19th Century, optical microscopes were greatly improved, enabling scientists to explore cells in more detail due to the clearer and magnified images offered by the instruments.