History of the Cell
¶ Robert Brown—Discovered that plant cells had smaller structures inside of them; one he called the nucleus. 1833
¶ Francesco Redi—Proved that flies were not coming from raw meat (life was NOT coming from non-life) but were coming from eggs laid in the meat by adult flies. 1660
¶ Anton van Leeuwenhoek—Improves upon the microscope by developing over 200 different microscopes. Made the first accurate description of red blood cells. 1650
¶ Martha Chase and Alfred Hershey—Showed that DNA, and not proteins, was the molecule in viruses that allowed them to reproduce. 1952
¶ Rudolph Virchow—After studying cells in both plants and animals he called the cell the basic unit of life, and said all cells come from other cells. 1858
¶ William Harvey—English physician who discovered that blood circulates through the body. Considered the father of modern medicine. 1628
¶ Rosiland Franklin—first to x-ray photograph DNA strands, leading to the discovery of its double helix structure by Watson and Crick, and to a better understanding of how cells reproduce. 1951
¶ Matthias Schleiden and Theodor Schwann—After a long study of plants (Schleiden) and animals (Schwann) they separately came to the conclusion that all living things are made of cells and that the nucleus is involved in cell replication. 1839
¶ Joseph Lister—British doctor discovered that the use of carbolic acid reduced infections in his patients. 1865
¶ Robert Hooke—English scientist that was the first to observe cells of cork under the newly invented microscope. Developed the compound microscope, using two lenses rather than one. Hooke actually observed only cell walls of dead cells of oak tree bark. 1665
¶ Louis Pasteur—Showed that living organisms caused the spoiling of milk and developed the process of “pasteurization” which sterilizes milk to prevent it from spoiling. 1857
¶ Alexander Fleming—Discovered penicillin. Penicillin was the first antibiotic used to kill infectious bacteria. 1928
¶ Robert Koch—German scientist discovered that many diseases are caused by microscopic bacteria. 1876