The wacky history of cell theory - Lauren Royal-Woods

譯者: Ya Hui Hung 審譯者: Chingwen Kao

(音樂)

關於科學最偉大的一件事是

One of the great things about science

is that when scientists make a discovery,

當科學家有一項巨大的科學突破，

it's not always in a prescribed manner,

這不一定是循規蹈矩的實驗成果，

例如，在實驗室按照處方做實驗，

as in, only in a laboratory under strict settings,

with white lab coats

穿著白色實驗服和使用會發出

and all sorts of neat science gizmos that go, "Beep!"

"嘟!"聲的專門儀器。

In reality,

實際上，

這些科學家和他們偉大的科學發明

the events and people involved

in some of the major scientific discoveries

are as weird and varied as they get.

都有些奇趣和不尋常。

My case in point:

我在這所要解說的是:

奇趣的細胞理論歷史。

The Weird History of the Cell Theory.

細胞理論包含 3 個法則。

There are three parts to the cell theory.

One: all organisms are composed of one or more cells.

第一: 所有生物都是由細胞組成的。

Two: the cell is the basic unit of structure

第二: 細胞是所有生物最基本的單位。

and organization in organisms.

And three: all cells come from preexisting cells.

第三: 所有細胞繁衍於已存在的細胞。

To be honest, this all sounds incredibly boring

說真的，這樣聽起來是不是超無趣?

until you dig a little deeper

所以讓我們從微生物的世界

into how the world of microscopic organisms,

and this theory came to be.

和這理論的來歷說起。

據說在 17 世紀，

It all started in the early 1600s in the Netherlands,

荷蘭有一個叫做

where a spectacle maker named Zacharias Janssen

楊森 (Zacharia Jansen) 的眼鏡製造商， 他發明了顯微鏡

is said to have come up with the first compound microscope,

和歷史上第一個望遠鏡。

along with the first telescope.

但這兩樣儀器的發明者還有待確認，

Both claims are often disputed,

as apparently he wasn't the only bored guy

因為很顯然的， 楊森不是那時唯一喜歡玩鏡片的傢伙。

with a ton of glass lenses to play with at the time.

儘管這樣，

Despite this,

the microscope soon became a hot item

顯微鏡很快就成為了一個熱門貨

that every naturalist or scientist at the time wanted to play with,

那時的每個博物學家或科學家都想擁有一個，

making it much like the iPad of its day.

其受歡迎的程度跟現代的 iPad 有得比。

有另一位叫做

One such person

was a fellow Dutchman by the name of Anton van Leeuwenhoek,

列文虎克 (Anton van Leeuwenhoek) ，

who heard about these microscope doohickeys,

對顯微鏡這玩意兒興趣很高，

and instead of going out and buying one,

但他不想去買一個，

he decided to make his own.

所以他決定自己做一個來玩玩。

And it was a strange little contraption indeed,

這的確是一個奇異的小玩意兒，

as it looked more like a tiny paddle the size of a sunglass lens.

因為它看上去像是太陽鏡片大小的小槳。

If he had stuck two together,

如果他將兩個粘在一起， 它有可能是一副絕妙的太陽眼鏡......

it probably would have made a wicked set of sunglasses

that you couldn't see much out of.

完全能防止陽光侵透。

Anyhoo, once Leeuwenhoek had his microscope ready,

話說回來，當列文虎克完成了他的顯微鏡

he went to town,

他到了城裡，什麼都用他的新顯微鏡拿來研究一番，

looking at anything and everything he could with them,

including the gunk on his teeth.

包括他牙齒上的汙垢。

Yes, you heard right.

對，你沒聽錯。

他就是如此而發現了細菌，

He actually discovered bacteria

by looking at dental scrapings,

which, when you keep in mind

當然，你要知道當時的人不常刷牙，

that people didn't brush their teeth much -- if at all -- back then,

或者可以說是完全不刷牙的，

he must have had a lovely bunch of bacteria to look at.

所以他有滿嘴的細菌來研究。

When he wrote about his discovery,

當他報告這發現時，

he didn't call them bacteria, as we know them today.

他並不稱呼這些"汙垢"為"細菌"。

他叫它們"動物分子"，

But he called them "animalcules,"

because they looked like little animals to him.

因為它們看起來像小動物。

While Leeuwenhoek was staring at his teeth gunk,

列文虎克在研究他牙齒的汙垢的同時，

he was also sending letters to a scientific colleague in England,

他寫了一封信給一位在英國

by the name of Robert Hooke.

叫虎克 (Robert Hooke) 的科學同好。

Hooke was a guy who really loved all aspects of science,

虎克的科學研究興趣很廣泛，

so he dabbled in a little bit of everything, including physics,

其中包括了物理，化學和生物。

chemistry and biology.

Thus it is Hooke who we can thank for the term "the cell,"

所以"細胞" (cell) 這名稱就是拜虎克所賜。

as he was looking at a piece of cork under his microscope,

這名稱來自他用顯微鏡觀察到的軟木片結構，

and the little chambers he saw reminded him of cells,

他覺得這些植物細胞結構有如教士們住的單人房，

or the rooms monks slept in in their monasteries.

英文名稱為 "cell"。

教士的單人房有如沒有電視、電腦， 和吵鬧室友的大學宿舍。

Think college dorm rooms,

but without the TVs, computers and really annoying roommates.

Hooke was something of an underappreciated scientist

那時的虎克並不是一位被賞識的科學家。

of his day --

這要歸咎於

something he brought upon himself,

他跟史上最有名的科學家之一，

as he made the mistake of locking horns

with one of the most famous scientists ever, Sir Isaac Newton.

牛頓 (Sir Isaac Newton) 的論爭。

還記得我說過虎克的科學興趣很廣泛嗎?

Remember when I said Hooke dabbled in many different fields?

Well, after Newton published a groundbreaking book

當時牛頓出版了一本劃時代的論著，

on how planets move due to gravity,

講述包括萬有引力的 「論宇宙的系統」，

Hooke made the claim

虎克聲稱牛頓的理論是

that Newton had been inspired by Hooke's work in physics.

受到他物理研究成果的啟發。

Newton, to say the least, did not like that,

當然了，牛頓非常的憤怒，

即便在虎克死後，兩人的關係仍舊緊張，

which sparked a tense relationship between the two

that lasted even after Hooke died,

as quite a bit of Hooke's research -- as well as his only portrait --

且不只是針對虎克的研究成果，

因為牛頓的關係， 皇家學會拆除了虎克僅存的肖像。

was ... misplaced, due to Newton.

Much of it was rediscovered, thankfully, after Newton's time,

還好，在牛頓去世後，虎克的理論又重被世人重視，

但他的肖像卻永遠消失， 使得後人無法得知虎克的樣貌。

but not his portrait,

as, sadly, no one knows what Robert Hooke looked like.

Fast-forward to the 1800s,

我們現在跳到 19 世紀，

where two German scientists discovered something

有兩位德國科學家， 他們的發現用現代眼光來看

that today we might find rather obvious,

but helped tie together what we now know as the cell theory.

可能非常理所當然， 但對當代細胞理論有著極大貢獻。

第一位是施萊登 (Matthias Schleiden)，

The first scientist was Matthias Schleiden,

a botanist who liked to study plants under a microscope.

他是喜歡用顯微鏡研究植物結構的植物學家。

從他多年觀察各種植物的結構，

From his years of studying different plant species,

it finally dawned on him

他發現所有植物都是

that every single plant he had looked at

were all made of cells.

由細胞構成的。

At the same time,

同時，在德國的另一端，

on the other end of Germany was Theodor Schwann,

有一位叫施旺 (Theodor Schwann) 的科學家，

a scientist who not only studied slides of animal cells

他專門用顯微鏡研究動物細胞，

under the microscope

施旺細胞就是以他名字命名的 一種特殊類型的神經細胞，

and got a special type of nerve cell named after him,

不只如此，他也發明了給消防隊員用的呼吸器

but also invented rebreathers for firefighters,

and had a kickin' pair of sideburns.

並留有引人注目的兩鬢鬍鬚。

他多年觀察動物細胞的心得是

After studying animal cells for a while,

he, too, came to the conclusion

每種動物都是由細胞構成的。

that all animals were made of cells.

Immediately, he reached out via snail mail,

因為當時推特 (Twitter) 還有待發明，

所以他當下馬上將這概念用郵寄 (蝸牛信)的方式

as Twitter had yet to be invented,

to other scientists working in the same field with Schleiden,

跟其他的科學同好分享，

包括施萊登。 於是他們開始合作產生細胞理論的原型。

who got back to him,

and the two started working on the beginnings of the cell theory.

A bone of contention arose between them.

但細胞理論的第三法則，

As for the last part of the cell theory --

成為了他們爭論的焦點。

所有細胞是否繁衍於已存在的細胞?

that cells come from preexisting cells --

Schleiden didn't exactly subscribe to that thought,

施萊登不完全支持這概念，

as he swore cells came from free-cell formation,

他主張細胞是自發形成的，

where they just kind of spontaneously crystallized into existence.

類似自發結晶而產生的。

當下，另一位名叫菲爾紹 (Rudolph Virchow) 的科學家，

That's when another scientist named Rudolph Virchow,

stepped in with research showing that cells did come from other cells,

提出了研究證明 ─ 所有細胞繁衍於已存在的細胞，

research that was actually -- hmm ... How to put it? --

但這研究成果 ─ 哎呀，要怎麼說呢? ─ 是抄襲於

"borrowed without permission"

一位名叫雷馬克 (Robert Remak) 的猶太裔科學家，

from a Jewish scientist by the name of Robert Remak,

因此這又造就了兩位不合的科學家。

which led to two more feuding scientists.

所以從牙齒的汙垢到惱怒的牛頓，

Thus, from teeth gunk to torquing off Newton,

從結晶到施旺細胞，

crystallization to Schwann cells,

the cell theory came to be an important part of biology today.

演變而來的細胞理論是現代生物學一門重要的學問。

有些現代科學理論可能讀起來很無趣，

Some things we know about science today may seem boring,

但是他們的發展可以說是耐人尋味。

but how we came to know them is incredibly fascinating.

所以任何無趣的事，

So if something bores you,

dig deeper.

如果你仔細探索，

It's probably got a really weird story behind it somewhere.

你有可能偶然發現他們背後一些耐人尋味的奇趣。