Cells

By Dr. A. George
Robert Hooke, 1665
 The Cell in 1665
Hooke didn’t guess that
the cell is the
fundamental building
block of living things.
Anton van Leeuwenhoek discovers
‘Animalcules’ in the 1670s

“I well know there are whole Universities that won't believe

there are living creatures in the male seed : but such things don't
worry me – I know I'm in the right.”
First sighting of Red Blood Cells – van
Leeuwenhoek, 1719
Franz Bauer discovers the Nucleus
in 1802
The Cell in 1802
 Matthais Schleiden & Theodor
Schwann, 1839
Every part of the structure of plants and animals
is made from cells or the products of cells.
 More Features of Plant Cells
1835 – Vacuoles 1864 – Chloroplasts
discovered discovered
 View of Cells in 1865
Animal Cell Plant Cell
cell membrane

cytoplasm
nucleus

cell wall
chloroplast
vacuole
 Mitochondrion (pl. Mitochondria)
Discovered in
1850s;
function not
proven until
1950s.

The
powerhouse
of the cell.
 Ribosomes
Discovered in 1950s
Ribosomes make proteins
The Cell in 1955 – and in your GCSE

cell membrane
cytoplasm
nucleus

ribosome (makes
proteins)
mitochondrion
(produces energy)
Casts of real human blood vessels, made using a technique called
‘corrosion casting’, in which blood vessels are injected with a
coloured plastic which sets hard. The body tissue is then chemically
removed. As seen at ‘Bodies: the Exhibition’.
Cast of blood vessels
in a greyhound heart.
 Did you know?
• In most tissue, no cell is ever more than three
or four cells away from a blood vessel.

• Yet the vessels and blood take up no more

than about 5% of the body’s volume.

• The total length of an adult’s blood vessels is

over 62,000 miles.