BIO 121

CHAPTER 1 -
INTRODUCTION

by SITI SARAH AZMAN

adapted from Nur Hazirah Azmis
DOA PENERANG HATI
 INTRODUCTION

What is BIOLOGY?
It comes from Latin word
bios - life + logos - study

BIOLOGY = SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF

LIFE
 BRANCHES IN BIOLOGY
Botany : study of plants
Zoology : study of animals
Ecology : study of environment and habitat in
which living things live
Genetics : study of genes
Microbiology : study of microbes
Biotechnology : application of technology in
biology
Biochemistry : study of chemistry in living
things
Cell Biology : study of cells in living things
EMERGING BIOLOGY FIELDS
Genomics

Proteomics

Nanotechnology

Synthetic biology

Bioinformatics

System biology
 WHAT IS LIFE?

Is diversified into many forms as living

things found on planet Earth.

Comprised of the same chemical

elements that make up the non-living
things, and they obey the same laws of
physic and chemistry as non-living
things do.

What are the properties of living

things?
SIMPLEST UNIT OF LIFE: CELLS
The history of cell study

Robert Hooke, an
early microscopist, in
1665, coined the
word cell after
looking at cork
through an early
compound
microscope.
ROBERT HOOKES MICROSCOPE
The history of cell study

In 1675 Anton van Leeuwenhoek, an

amateur Dutch scientist, discovered
microscopic animalcules in water.
Looking at tooth plaque, he first to
discover bacteria; 1000x smaller.
 The history of cell study

Robert Brown, an English

botanist, in 1831, was the
first to call the dark, nut-
like body in the center of
most of the cells he
observed a "nucleus.
 The history of cell study

Mattias Schleiden (1838)

concluded from his
observations that cells
must be the fundamental
unit of life.
 The history of cell study

Theodor Schwan, a German zoologist, in

1839, after viewing animal and plant
cells surmised that:
all organisms consist of one or
more cells
cells are the basic unit of structure
for all organisms.
 The history of cell study

Rudolf Virchow, a German

pathologist, in 1855,
added the observation
that all cells arise only
from preexisting cells.
which supported the
new theory of
biogenesis, being
advanced by Pasteur,
that life comes from
life.
 CELL THEORIES

1. All organisms are composed of

one or more cells.

2. The cell is the structural unit of

life for all organisms.

3. Cells can arise only by division

from a preexisting cell.
History of cell study (summary)
CHARACTERISTICS
OF LIFE

Dows lake, Ottawa, CANADA

 Organisms are composed of cells

Organisms grow and develop

Organisms regulate their metabolic

processes

Organisms respond to stimuli

Organisms reproduce

Adaptation to environmental change

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

1. What is biology?

2. Branches in biology

3. Characteristics of life
THANK
YOU

British Museum, London, UK