Cell

Discovery &
Cell Theory
What is a Cell?
 Cell
• The structural and
functional unit of all
living organism.
 History
• The study of cells started about three hundred
years ago.
• With the help of one powerful instrument the
cell was begin to be known to humans.

MICROSCOPE
 The Cell Theory
• The development and refinement of
magnifying lenses and light microscopes made
the observation and description of
microscopic organisms and living cells
possible.
 Cell Discovery
• The scientist who have contributed to the
discovery of the cell:
 Hans and Zacharias Jansen
Robert Hooke
Matthias Schleiden
Theodor Schwann
Robert Brown
Anton van
Leeuwenhoek
Rudolph Virchow
 1595
• Hans and
Zacharias
Jansen

Credited for the

production of lenses.
1665
• Robert Hooke
English Scientist.
Coined the term
“CELL” or “cellulae”
He found it in a cork.
Inventor of the
compound
microscope.
Cork Oak Tree
Cell Wall of a
Cork Cell
 1674
• Anton van Leeuwenhoek
Dutch Businessman.
Described cells in a drop of pond water that he
called “animalcules”.
“Father of Ancient
Microbiology”
 1833
• Robert Brown
English botanist,
discovered the
nucleus in plant
cells(orchid).
Plant Cells
1838
• Matthias Jakob
Schleiden
German botanist,
concluded the all
plant tissues are
composed of
cells.
 1839
• Theodor Schwann
German zoologist,
concluded that all
animal tissues are
composed of
cells.
Proposed the cell
theory
 1858
• Rudolph Virchow
Completed the cell theory by expounding
his famous conclusion “omnis cellula e
cellula” or cells develop from pre-
existing cells.
 Modern Cell Theory
1. All organisms are composed of one or more
cells.
2. The cell is the basic unit of structure &
organization in all organisms.
3. All cells arise from pre-existing cells .
1. All organisms are composed of one or
more cells.
•any part of plant or animal is made
up of similar tiny structures called
cells.
2. The cell is the basic unit of structure
& organization in all organisms.
•metabolic activities of an organism
are due to activities of the cell.
3. All cells arise from pre-existing
cells.
•life begins with a single cell
•Unicellular organisms
• Multicellular organisms
 References
• http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P
MC2603088/
• http://www.bio.miami.edu/~cmallery/150/uni
ty/cell.text.htm
• http://teachertech.rice.edu/Participants/daws
onm/cells/timeline.htm