In biology, cell theory is a scientific theory that describes the properties of cells, the basic unit of structure in every living thing. The initial development of the theory, during the mid-17th century, was made possible by advances in microscopy; the study of cells is called cell biology. Cell theory is one of the foundations of biology.
The three parts to the cell theory are as described below:
1. All living organisms are composed of one or more cells.
2. The cell is the basic unit of structure, function, and organization in all organisms.
3. All cells come from preexisting cells.
Read more about Cell Theory: History, Modern Interpretation, Types of Cells
Famous quotes containing the words cell and/or theory:
“In America all too few blows are struck into flesh. We kill the spirit here, we are experts at that. We use psychic bullets and kill each other cell by cell.”
—Norman Mailer (b. 1923)
“The theory [before the twentieth century] ... was that all the jobs in the world belonged by right to men, and that only men were by nature entitled to wages. If a woman earned money, outside domestic service, it was because some misfortune had deprived her of masculine protection.”
—Rheta Childe Dorr (1866–1948)