Cell biology
Field · 1660s onward; cell theory from 1838 · Biology, stage 2: Map the fields
Cell biology treats the cell as the unit of life and asks how it is built, how it divides, and how its parts are kept in the right places. It started as a microscopy problem and became a chemical one: the compartments visible under a lens turned out to be sites where specific reactions are confined. It supplies the physical setting for genetics and molecular biology, since chromosomes, transcription, and translation all sit inside this frame.
What it claims
- All organisms are made of cells, and every cell arises from a pre-existing cell.
- A cell is organised into compartments that separate incompatible chemistry.
- Traits at the level of tissues and organisms are consequences of what individual cells do.
Key ideas
People
Sources
- Cell biology Wikipedia
- The Cell: A Molecular Approach NCBI Bookshelf
- Cell Biology Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyOn what kind of explanation cell biology gives, and why it is usually mechanistic rather than law-based.
