Biyo-Tek Günlüğüm…

Discovery of Cells

All living things are made up of one or more cells. A cell is the smallest unit that can carry on all of the processes of life. Beginning in the 17th century, curious naturalists were able to use microscopes to study objects too small to be seen with the unaided eye. Their studies led them to propose the cellular basis of life.

The descriptive name for the smallest living biological structure was chosen by Robert Hooke in a book he published in 1665 when he compared the cork cells he saw through his microscope to the small rooms monks lived in. The word cell comes from the Latin cellula, meaning, a small room.

The first person to observe living cells was a Dutch trader named Anton van Leeuwenhoek.

Leeuwenhoek made microscopes that were simple and tiny, but he ground lenses so precisely that the magnification was 10 times that of Hooke’s instruments

In 1838, the German botanist Matthias Schleiden concluded that all plants were composed of cells.

The next year, the German zoologist Theodor Schwann concluded the same thing for animals.

And finally, in his study of human diseases, the German physician Rudolf Virchow (1821–1902) noted that all cells come from other cells.

These three observations were combined to form a basic theory about the cellular nature of life called The Cell Theory.