Write in 100 words "contributions of Robert Hooke in the field of Biology.
Answers
doctrine, states that all organisms are composed of similar units of organization, called cells. The concept was formally articulated in 1839 by Schleiden & Schwann and has remained as the foundation of modern biology. The idea predates other great paradigms of biology including Darwin’s theory of evolution (1859), Mendel’s laws of inheritance (1865), and the establishment of comparative biochemistry (1940).
First Cells Seen in Cork
While the invention of the telescope made the Cosmos accessible to human observation, the microsope opened up smaller worlds, showing what living forms were composed of. The cell was first discovered and named by Robert Hooke in 1665. He remarked that it looked strangely similar to cellula or small rooms which monks inhabited, thus deriving the name. However what Hooke actually saw was the dead cell walls of plant cells (cork) as it appeared under the microscope. Hooke’s description of these cells was published in Micrographia. The cell walls observed by Hooke gave no indication of the nucleus and other organelles found in most living cells. The first man to witness a live cell under a microscope was Anton van Leeuwenhoek, who in 1674 described the algae Spirogyra. Van Leeuwenhoek probably also saw bacteria.
Formulation of the Cell Theory
In 1838, Theodor Schwann and Matthias Schleiden were enjoying after-dinner coffee and talking about their studies on cells. It has been suggested that when Schwann heard Schleiden describe plant cells with nuclei, he was struck by the similarity of these plant cells to cells he had observed in animal tissues. The two scientists went immediately to Schwann’s lab to look at his slides. Schwann published his book on animal and plant cells (Schwann 1839) the next year, a treatise devoid of acknowledgments of anyone else’s contribution, including that of Schleiden (1838). He summarized his observations into three conclusions about cells:
The cell is the unit of structure, physiology, and organization in living things.
The cell retains a dual existence as a distinct entity and a building block in the construction of organisms.
Cells form by free-cell formation, similar to the formation of crystals (spontaneous generation).
We know today that the first two tenets are correct, but the third is clearly wrong. The correct interpretation of cell formation by division was finally promoted by others and formally enunciated in Rudolph Virchow’s powerful dictum, Omnis cellula e cellula,: “All cells only arise from pre-existing cells”.
Modern Cell Theory
All known living things are made up of cells.
The cell is structural & functional unit of all living things.
All cells come from pre-existing cells by division.
Answer:
Robert Hooke was a famous scientist, born in 1635. He most famously discovered the Law of Elasticity (or Hooke’s Law) and did a huge amount of work on microbiology (he published a famous book called Micrographia, which included sketches of various natural things under a microscope).
Hooke was the scientist who coined the term "cell", so we refer to the billions of tiny pieces that make up everything as cells because of him!
Hooke also studied the planets, and invented a process for telling the time accurately, as well as being an accomplished architect.
His wide ranging contributions have often been compared to those of Leonardo da Vinci, and he is referred to as a ‘polymath’ because he studied and contributed to so many subjects.