The cell (from Latin cella, meaning small room)

The cell (from Latin cella, meaning "small room"[1]) is the basic structural, functional, and biological unit of all known living organisms. A cell is the smallest unit of life that can replicate independently, and cells are often called the "building blocks of life". The study of cells is called cell biology.

CELLS
Smallest living unit
Most are microscopic

DISCOVERY OF CELLS
Robert Hooke (mid-1600s)
Observed sliver of cork
Saw “row of empty boxes”
Coined the term cell

CELL THEORY
(1839)Theodor Schwann & Matthias Schleiden
“ all living things are made of cells”
(50 yrs. later) Rudolf Virchow
“all cells come from cells”

PRINCIPLES OF CELL THEORY
All living things are made of cells
Smallest living unit of structure and function of all organisms is the cell
All cells arise from preexisting cells
(this principle discarded the idea of
spontaneous generation)

CHARACTERISTICS OF ALL CELLS
A surrounding membrane
Protoplasm – cell contents in thick fluid
Organelles – structures for cell function
Control center with DNA