One of the basic principles of biology is cell theory. We'd assume that people have known that cells are the basic building blocks of life, but before the 1600s nobody even questioned how every living thing was structured. In 1665, Robert Hooke took a thin slice of a cork and examined it under a microscope. He noticed honeycomb-like patterns that inspired him to keep investigating the newly discovered image. Because of his association of honeycombs and the compartments (cells) within them, he named them cells. Hooke did not understand their purpose nor did he know that they could be living things, since he was looking at nonliving cell walls, but when he made his findings public, it allowed an array of research to begin. Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek was the first man to witness and make note of living cells in an algae plant. He called them animalcules which literally translates to "little animals" and he, like Hooke, influenced another step of cell research. Finally, in 1837, two European biologists Theodor Schwann and Matthias Jakob Schleiden put their heads together by talking about their own individual research. They both had an epiphany that the cells in plants and animals were very similar and put together the first formal and accurate definition of cell theory! It was simple, but it was a great start: All living organisms are composed of either multicellular or unicellular cells, they are the most basic unit of life, and they come from pre-existing cells. There were many other important biologists that helped form this theory. They're not always given credit for the work they did but through our project, we'll give credit to everyone that deserves it. The Cell Theory is one of the most important ones in history because it has allowed humans to understand living organisms on a much deeper level which has helped us advance studies in helping living organisms.
links for more information:
http://www.nature.com/ncb/journal/v1/n1/full/ncb0599_E13.html>
http://www.google.com/archivesearch?hl=en&source=hp&q=cell+theory&um=1&ie=UTF-8&scoring=t&ei=0rbjSsWkC8Xl8QaG0-mHBw&sa=X&oi=timeline_result&ct=title&resnum=11&ved=0CDMQ5wIwCg
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Cell theory is still a fundamental principle which guides biology today. If you ever took biology in high school, you probably learned about it during the first few weeks. In some ways, it is so obvious and accepted now, that even people with very little scientific background know about it.
ReplyDeleteJust imagine how wild that cork must have looked to the first people that saw it under magnification. Once again, how we perceive the universe is limited by our perceptual abilities--but technology that increases our perception changes and informs our universal understandings, often in unexpected ways.
For a cool contemporary aesthetic link, check out the award-winning scientific photographs (actually micrographs--photos taken under a microscope) available here: http://www.nikonsmallworld.com/gallery
Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but I find these images generally gorgeous and amazing!!
I'm curious why they chose to use a cork to first examine under a microscope rather than a living organism. Was there a reason for this?
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