Posted on March 27, 2022
This is an update of my post published on March 27, 2011:
On this day in 1776, Charles-François Brisseau de Mirbel was born in France, and on this same day in 1817, Carl von Nägeli was born in Switzerland.
They both grew up to be scientists who study plants (who are called botanists), and they both added to our knowledge of cell biology (which is called cytology).
Mirbel is actually considered a founder of the study of plant cells. He observed that each plant cell has a continuous membrane. Von Nägeli studied cell division and pollen formation, and he may have been the first to describe chromosomes (which he referred to as “transitory cytoblasts”).
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| Cell division |
By the way, von Nägeli was a bit of a mystic who, some science historians say, did a lot of harm by dismissing Gregor Mendel’s work on genetics—even going so far as to discourage Mendel from experimenting further in the area. Not cool, von Nägeli! Not. Cool!
Learn about plant cells!
Plant cells, just like all other cells, have many parts. Check out the cell parts at the Cells Alive website: move the mouse over the interactive diagram to see the various names for cell parts, and click one of the organelles (or its label) to find out more about that part.
Do some puzzles with a cell theme.
You can make an incredible edible cell with instructions found here. Or an edible cell-in-a-baggie; again, instructions found here.
Find more cell-model websites here.
Also on this date:
Architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s birthday
Anniversary of the invention of modern shoelaces
Quirky Country Music Song Titles Day
Anniversary of the first time fingerprints solved a case
Armed Forces Day in Myanmar (aka Burma)
Actor Ram Charan’s birthday
World Theatre Day
National Scribble Day
Skyscraper Day
Plan ahead:
Check out my Pinterest boards for:
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April holidays
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April birthdays
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Historical anniversaries in April
And here are my Pinterest boards for:
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May holidays
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May birthdays
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Historical anniversaries in May