Cell Theory and Microscopy

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the components of life, the history and inventors of the microscope, the formulation of Classical and Modern Cell Theory, and the experiments disproving Spontaneous Generation.

Growth & Development

The process where organisms get bigger, more complex, or develop in some way.

Energy Metabolism

The characteristics of life including eating, breathing, excreting waste, and energy usage.

Homeostasis

The ability to maintain a relatively controlled internal environment.

Adaptation

Changes in an organism over time due to natural selection and mutation.

Response to Stimuli

Responding to external environmental factors, often through movement and adaptation over time.

Cells

The requirement that life is made of at least one unit containing highly complex structures and organized chemical processes.

Reproduction

The generation of offspring with new combinations of parent DNA.

Cell Theory

One of the basic principles of biology developed in the mid-$1800$s as a result of various discoveries about cells.

Microscope

An optical instrument consisting of a lens or combination of lenses for making enlarged images of minute objects.

Hans Lippershey and Zacharias Janssen

Inventors of the first Compound Microscope in $1590$ which utilized two lenses and provided $3 \times$ to $9 \times$ magnification.

Occhiolino

A microscope invented in $1609$ featuring a bi-concave eyepiece and a bi-convex objective lens with $30 \times$ magnification.

Robert Hooke (Microscope)

Inventor of the Compound Light Microscope in $1665$ providing $50 \times$ magnification.

Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (Microscope)

The designer and inventor of the best Simple Microscope in $1676$ with magnification between $70 \times$ and $250 \times$.

Ernst Ruska and Max Knoll

Inventors of the Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) in $1931$ capable of $100 \times$ to more than $1,000,000 \times$ magnification.

Frits Zernike

Scientist who developed the Phase Contrast Microscope in $1932$ with magnification levels up to $400 \times$.

Classical Postulate $1$

The cell is the smallest and basic unit of life.

Classical Postulate $2$

All organisms are composed of one or more cells.

Classical Postulate $3$

Cells come from pre-existing cells (Omnis cellula e cellula).

Robert Hooke (Cell Discovery)

Scientist who used a microscope in $1665$ to examine cork and coined the term "cell" to describe the hollow compartments he observed.

Marcello Malpighi and Nehemiah Grew

Scientists who conducted separate investigations on plant cells between $1665$ and $1676$ and determined the presence of organelles.

Animalcules

The name given by Antonie van Leeuwenhoek to the single-celled organisms he observed in pond water.

Robert Brown

Scientist who made discoveries about organelles in $1831$ and coined the word "nucleus".

Matthias Schleiden

Scientist who stated in $1838$ that all plants are composed of cells.

Theodor Schwann

Scientist who stated in $1839$ that all animals are composed of cells.

Albrecht von Roelliker

Scientist who in $1840$ discovered that sperm and egg are composed of cells and all humans are configured with cells.

Rudolf Virchow

The "Father of Pathology" who published "Cellular Pathology" in $1855$ stating that new cells are formed by the division of pre-existing cells.

Robert Remak

A colleague of Virchow who originally published the idea that all cells arise from other cells three years before Virchow's editorial.

Theory of Spontaneous Generation (Abiogenesis)

The idea, proposed by Aristotle and lasting almost $2000$ years, that living things can arise from nonliving matter.

Jan Baptista van Helmont

A supporter of Abiogenesis who claimed that wheat grains in a sweaty shirt for $21$ days would produce mice.

Francesco Redi

The first scientist to challenge spontaneous generation by showing that maggots did not appear in meat inside sealed or gauze-covered jars.

John Needham

Scientist who supported spontaneous generation in $1745$ by boiling broth and showing that bacteria still grew inside the sealed flask.

Lazzaro Spallanzani

Scientist who corrected Needham by boiling broth longer and sealing it completely, showing that no growth occurred as long as organisms could not enter.

Swan-neck flask

A special flask used by Louis Pasteur to allow air in while trapping microorganisms in the curve, effectively disproving spontaneous generation.

George Friedrich Schroder and Theodor von Dusch

Scientists who used a sterile cotton plug in $1855$ to trap microorganisms and prevent growth in broth.

Modern Cell Theory Postulate $1$

Cells carry and pass on to the offspring hereditary units during cell division.

Modern Cell Theory Postulate $2$

All cells are relatively the same in terms of chemical composition and metabolic activity.

Modern Cell Theory Postulate $3$

Energy flow occurs within cells.