User:Ashhad Mufeed

What is cell?

-The basic structural and functional unit of cellular organisms is the cell. It is an aqueous compartment bound by cell membrane, which is capable of independent existence and performing the essential functions of life. All organisms, more complex than viruses, consist of cells. Viruses are noncellular organisms because they lack cell or cell-like structure. -In the year 1665, Robert Hooke first discovered cells in a piece of cork and also coined the word cell. The word cell is derived from the Latin word cellula, which means small compartment. Hooke published his findings in his famous work, Micrographia. Actually, Hooke only observed cell walls because cork cells are dead and without cytoplasmic contents. Anton van Leeuwenhoek was the first person who observed living cells under a microscope and named them animalcules, meaning little animals.