How Did Scientists Discover What Was Inside Cells?

Question

How Did Scientists Discover What Was Inside Cells?

2 Answers

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Answer 1

Cells are the basic unit of life. The British scientist Robert Hooke was probably one of the first to realise that human beings and other living organisms are all made up from cells.

In 1665, he used a very simple microscope to look at the cells in the cork from a tree. He noticed tiny repeating shapes inside the cork and he called these shapes cells.

With his very basic microscope, he could not see what was inside. This was discovered by scientists who lived much later. Another British scientist, Robert Brown used a more powerful microscope to look at cells and discovered the cell nucleus.

It was not until the twentieth century that an invention called the electron microscope allowed scientists all of the world to see the inside of cells in detail. This microscope is very powerful and reveals the full detail of organelles such as the mitochondria, the chloroplasts and the cell membrane.

Answer 2

The term "cells" was first introduced by Robert Hooke, an English botanist, in 1665, after he had examined thin slices of cork from the bark of a tree using one of the earliest microscopes. He saw that the cork consisted of closely packed little boxes with thick walls which appeared to be empty. The boxes looked like a honeycomb and he called them cells. However, it took many years of study and experimentation before there was any clear idea of their real nature. What Hooke saw was only the dead cell walls.

But now, scientists have invented the electron microscope, so they could see a more in-depth and refined look into how cells perform their daily functions and what components really make up the cells.