Cell Theory

History of the Cell Theory: Cells, the make-up of all living things. Some cell are complete organisms, such as unicellular bacteria and protozoa. Other types of cells are called multicellular, such as nerve cells and muscle cells. Withen the cell is genetic material, Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) containing coded instructions for the behavior and reproduction of the cell. The cell was first discovered by the 1665 English scientist Robert Hooke, who studied the dead cells of cork with a crude microscope. Robert Hooke was born on the isle of Whight and educated at the University of Oxford. Hooke could not have discovered the cell without the microscope which was developed by Antoni van Leeuwenhoek a 1674 Dutch maker of microscopes. Leeuwenhoek born in Delft, Holland and had little or no scientific education. Leeuwenhoek also confirmed the discovery of capillary systems. Theodor Schwann a German physiologist born in Neuss and educated at the universities of Bonn, Wurzburg, and Berlin, Schwann was involved in the study of the structure of plant and animal tissues. Along with Matthias Jakob Schleiden a German botanist, Schwann proposed the cell theory. The cell theory has three parts: 1. All organisms are composed of cells. 2. Cells are the basic units of structure and function in organisms 3. All cells come from preexisting cells. The impact on science was very great due to the discovery of cells and the cell theory. Many or all things were effected by the discovery of cells, everything was looked upon in a different way. Some people still did not believe that all living organisms were made of tiny microscopic chambers called cells. Many people thought that people that believed in cells were insane, some people even wanted to put Antoni van Leeuwenhoek in an insane asylum because he believed in cells. As you can see the impact of cells was very great on people. Other things were discovered due to the discovery of cells, such as the dicovery of atoms, the make-up of all things on the Earth.