Final answer:
The 200-year gap between the term 'cell' being coined by Robert Hooke and the establishment of cell theory was due to the initial lack of understanding of cell function and primitive microscope technology. It took significant advances in microscopy and further research by scientists over the centuries to develop the comprehensive cell theory.
Step-by-step explanation:
Following the initial discovery of cells by Robert Hooke in 1665, it took nearly 200 years before the cell theory was developed. The delay can be attributed to several factors. Firstly, Hooke's observation of cork tissue through a basic microscope only revealed dead cells, which lacked internal structures.
At the time, the importance and function of these structures were not understood. Secondly, the microscopes of the 17th century were primitive, and it wasn't until significant advances in microscope construction and staining techniques were made that scientists could observe the detailed components inside living cells.
In the 1670s, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek's discovery of bacteria and protozoa using enhanced lenses marked a pivotal advancement in cellular biology. However, despite these discoveries, the comprehensive understanding of cells as the basis of life required a cumulative body of research and technological improvements.
It was only by the late 1830s that botanists and zoologists, such as Matthias Schleiden and Theodor Schwann, after studying various tissues, proposed the unified cell theory, which provided the foundational tenets essential for our current understanding of cells and life.