In 1675 Anton Van Leeuwenhoek a Dutch shopkeeper used a simple microscope to look at water and discovered single celled organisms.
There are living things in here. let's call them wea beasties, or maybe animalcules.
Hidden World
In 1675 Robert Hooke an english scientist, used a compound microscope to look at cork and noticed that it looked like little boxes. it reminded him of little rooms and he named them cells.
Wow this cork looks like it's made of little boxes. maybe I should name them cells like what the monks live in.
200 Year Time Gap
200 years later technology improves and the magnification of microscopes increases.
Microscopes got better and the magnification increases.
Same Thing Different Looking
In the 1830s Matthias Schleiden, a german botanist used a compound microscope and discovered that all plant cells look similar and have similar shape and color.
Building Blocks of Life
In the 1830s German zoologist Theodor Schwann used a compound microscope and studied animal cells and discovered that cells were the building blocks of all living things. Also that each type of cell had a specific function.
Cells Reproduce
in 1858 Rudolph Virchow a German scientist looked at all of the tests other scientists did and used a compound microscope, and preformed experiments. Then he discovered that cells only come from preexisting cells.