Explain the main concept of the cell theory.

The cell theory was created after the observations of
microbiology greats such as Robert Hooke (who was the first to discover a cell in 1655),
Antony vanLeeuwenhoek (first to see one under a microscope), and Henri Dutrochet (who
wrote one of the most important arguments in cell theory) and combined all to establish
three common and irrefutable tenets that apply to everything, big and
small.

They are the
following:

• All living things or organisms are
  made of cells and their products.


• New cells are created
  by old cells dividing into two.


• Cells are the basic
  building units of life.

These tenets can be
basically explained as follows:

1- That all things that are
alive are products of a cellular division which, in turn, made up the organism itself.
Therefore, cells are the building blocks of everything that is alive, whether is a
person, animal, or a thing.

2- That the process by which
new cells are created is when an old cell divides into two cells. This means that new
cells are the product of an old cell dividing itself into a two separate cells of the
same type. It would be the same as what happens when we take one drop of water and push
down on it. The drop of water will become two drops. The newly-formed drop will be the
equivalent of the newly-formed cell.

3- That cells are what
make life. They are the building blocks of life. Without them, we would not exist
because, without them, we would not have ever become living
things.

In conclusion, when all the observations and
research on cells were put together, the cell theory was born. Its concepts are concise,
simply-put, but very powerful. It just goes to show that small things are not to be
taken for granted. The cell- something invisible to the human eye-is the basic maker of
life.