Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
FIGURE 2.9
Wilhelm Pfeffer (1845
e
1920), from Popular Science Monthly, Volume 50, 1896.
ferns. Unfortunately he was stubborn and refused to accept new ideas proposed by others
and he believed in spontaneous generation! From 1866
1873 von Nageli exchanged letters
with the Austrian monk Gregor Mendel, whom we now know as the 'father of modern
genetics'. Von Nageli did not appreciate or even understand Mendel's work and discouraged
him from continuing. It was von Nageli who rejected the original paper by Mendel that,
when rediscovered 40 years later, revolutionized genetics.
e
Wilhelm Pfeffer: (1877)
Membrane Theory, the first general theory of cell physiology, is often attributed to Wilhelm
Pfeffer (
Figure 2.9
). From his studies on the osmotic behavior of then invisible plasma
membranes, he concluded the cell barrier must be thin and semi-permeable. He proposed
that the plasma membrane was similar to an artificial copper ferrocyanide membrane.
Some 20 years later Overton demonstrated that the permeability barrier (plasma membrane)
was in fact lipid in nature.
Charles Ernest Overton: (1899)
Charles Ernest Overton (
Figure 2.10
) is credited with being the first true 'membranologist'.
Although Overton was born in England, he worked in Germany and Sweden and published
