2.1.

1 Outline the Cell Theory

2.1.2 Discuss the evidence for the Cell Theory

 1350
The ancient Egyptians
were making glass
beads 4500 years ago.

But it took 4000 years

for someone to use
these ‘lenses’
(magnification of x2) as
spectacles. Italian
monks did that in the
14th century.
 1595
The first recorded microscope consisted of a tube
with two lenses made by Dutch inventors, Zacharias
(who was 15 years old!!!) and Hans Janssen.

It had a maximum magnification of 10X.

Because this microscope
has two lenses it is called a
‘compound microscope’.

We call a microscope with

only one lens….a
magnifying glass!!
 1665

This young hottie,

Robert Hooke,

used this microscope …..

… to see this; ‘spaces
filled with air enclosed
in little cells’.

Hooke drew the cells he saw

and also coined the word
CELL.

The word cell is derived from

the Latin word 'cellula' which
means small compartment or
box. Robert Hooke’s Cork Cells
We use the word today to describe the small room that
prisoners live in, however in Robert Hooke’s time
‘cells’ were the small rooms inhabited by monks.
 1675
This single lens microscope magnifies to 200X and,

was used by Anton van Leeuwenhoek to discover tiny

‘animalcules’ (protozoa) in stagnant water.

Anton was therefore the first person ever to

see a living cell!
 For me, the most
amazing thing about
van Leeuwenhoek’s
microscope was it’s
size…..!

In 1683, Anton uses his

tiny microscope to find
bacteria in saliva.

What a man!
 1805
Lorenz Oken said‘All
living organisms
originate from and
consist of cells’

But he and Rene Dutochet (who

in 1805 said “All animals and
plants are made of cells”) don’t
get as much credit as they
deserve …. in my opinion.

You’ll see what I mean in a minute!

 1831

Robert Brown looks

at orchid cells and
notices that each has
a dark spot in their
centre. Even though
he didn’t call it a
‘nucleus’ as we do, it
was an important
observation that he
later extended to
animal cells.
Brown used this
microscope (magnification
~300X)….

…to see this.

Note the nucleus in each cell.

1839
Zis is very
strange!

Theodor Schwann,
another hottie, was
studying animal embryos
and noticed there was a
strange resemblance of
some parts of the spinal
cord to plant cells.
Schwann’s friend, Matthias Schleiden came to dinner to
discuss his exciting new observations of Robert Brown’s
nuclei in plant cells. They are credited with formulating the
first two parts of the cell theory:

1. All living things are

composed of cells
2. Cells are the basic
unit of living organisms

Don’t you wish you

were invited to
dinner that night?
 1858
Rudolf Virchow observes cells dividing
into two new cells (mitosis).

(Magnification
Schwann had said that
400X) ‘all living things are made of
one or more cells’.

Virchow suggested
the third part of the
cell theory: ‘all
cells come from
cells that already
exist’.
 1933
The first electron microscope is built.

Light microscopes have a

maximum magnification of
2000X if you’re lucky…

…. Electron
microscopes can
magnify up to
500,000X
 Mid 1900’s to present day

Refinements to microscopes and staining

techniques led to greater detail being
observed in cells.
Chromosomes were observed for the first
time in dividing cells which led to the last
part of the cell theory: “4. Cells contain
inherited information (genes)”.
This inherited information is used as
instructions for growth, functioning and
development.
So, the Cell Theory states that,

1. All living things are composed of cells

2. Cells are the smallest unit of life

3. All cells come from cells that already exist