Cellular Theory, History of

Keywords

Chromosomes, globules

Abstract

The cellular theory was produced in two steps by Schleiden and Schwann (1838–1839) and then by Remak (1855) and Wirchow (1855–1858). This theory claimed that cells were universal and microscopic entities, constituting living beings and that a cell was always produced by the division of another cell. Since that period up to now, the cell has become a central concept in biology.

History

The cellular theory was formulated after more than one and a half century of microscopic observations. Indeed, the invention of microscope during the seventeenth century offered new investigations to naturalists. Robert Hooke (1635–1703) in his Micrographia(1865), Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (1632–1723), Jan Swammerdam (1737–1780)… observed microscopical objects: individual entities, often named animalcules, and parts of organisms. However, they did not have concepts to consider all these new observations. For example, it is important to notice that when Hooke used the...