BIOLOGY UNIT 1

How did cells aquire their name?

In the 1660s, ROBERT HOOKE developed a COMPOUND MICROSCOPE using several lenses.

He used this to examine slices of CORK.

He noted that the slices were made up of lots of tiny chambers (they resembled the types of ROOMS OR CELLS THAT MONKS LIVED IN).

So he therefore called the tiny chambers cells.

-By the 1840s the CELL THEORY developed by SCHLEIDEN and SCHWANN was accepted.

-It was later extended by the work of VIRCHOW 1855 and WEISMANN in 1880.

-It states the following;

• All living things consist of cells.
• New cells are formed only by the division of pre-existing cells.
• The cell contains information that acts as the instructions for growth -(this information can be passed onto new cells).