it's not always in a prescribed manner,

那不一定是循規蹈矩的實驗成果，

as in, only in a laboratory under strict settings, with white lab coats and all sorts of neat science gizmos that go, "Beep!"

例如，實驗室裡按照理論，穿著白色實驗袍並用各種會發出「嗶！」聲的儀器做的實驗。

In reality, the events and people involved in some of the major scientific discoveries are as weird and varied as they get.

事實上，這些科學家和他們的一些重大科學發現都挺奇特的。

My case in point: The Weird History of the Cell Theory.

今天要解說的是：奇特的細胞理論史。

There are three parts to the cell theory.

細胞理論包含三個法則。

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

第一：所有生物都皆由細胞組成。

Two: The cell is the basic unit of structure and organization in organisms.

第二：細胞是所有生物最基本的單位。

And three: All cells come from preexisting cells.

第三：所有細胞皆從已存在的細胞分裂而來。

To be honest, this all sounds incredibly boring

說真的，這聽起來超無趣，

until you dig a little deeper into how the world of microscopic organisms and this theory came to be.

所以讓我們來探討微生物的世界和這個理論的由來吧。

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

這要從 17 世紀初的荷蘭說起。

where a spectacle maker name Zacharias Jansen is said to have come up with the first compound microscope,

據說荷蘭一位叫楊森的眼鏡製造商發明了世上第一台複式顯微鏡，

along with the first telescope.

還有第一架望遠鏡。

Both claims are often disputed, as apparently he wasn't the only bored guy with a ton of glass lenses to play with at the time.

但這兩樣儀器的發明者還有待確認，因為看來楊森不是那時唯一很喜歡玩鏡片的無聊傢伙。

Despite this, the microscope soon became a hot item that every naturalist or scientist at the time wanted to play with,

儘管如此，顯微鏡很快就變成了熱門貨，當時的每個博物學家或科學家都想要有一個，

making it much like the iPad of its day.

其受歡迎的程度跟現在的 iPad 有得比。

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

有另一位叫作雷文霍克的荷蘭人，

who heard about these microscope doohickeys,

他對顯微鏡這玩意很有興趣，

and instead of going out and buying one, he decided to make his own.

但他並沒有買，而是決定自己做一個來玩玩。

And it was a strange little contraption indeed, as it looked more like a tiny paddle the size of a sunglass lens.

這的確是一個神奇的小玩意，因為它看上去像是太陽眼鏡鏡片大小的小槳。

If he had stuck two together, it probably would have made a wicked set of sunglasses...

如果將兩個黏在一起，可能會是副很潮的太陽眼鏡…

that you couldn't see much out of.

完全隔絕陽光跟視線。

Any-who, once Leeuwenhoek had his microscope ready,

拉回主題，當雷文霍克完成他的顯微鏡，

he went to town, looking at anything and everything he could with them,

他到了城裡，什麼都用他的顯微鏡拿來研究一番，

including the gunk on his teeth.

包括他牙齒上的污垢。

Yes, you heard right.

對，你沒聽錯。

He actually discovered bacteria by looking at dental scrapings,

他就是這樣發現細菌的，

which, when you keep in mind that people didn't brush their teeth much, if at all, back then,

當然，要知道當時的人不常刷牙，或者可以說完全不刷牙，

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

所以他有滿嘴的細菌可以研究。

When he wrote about his discovery, he didn't call them bacteria, as we know them today.

當他報告這項發現時，他並不是稱呼這些汙垢為今日所熟知的「細菌」。

But he called them animalcules because they looked like little animals to him.

他叫它們「動物分子」，因為它們對他來說看起來像小動物。

While Leeuwenhoek was staring at his teeth gunk,

雷文霍克在研究他牙齒汙垢的同時，

he was also sending letters to a scientific colleague in England, by the name of Robert Hooke.

他也寫了一封信給一位在英國名叫虎克的科學同好。

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, chemistry, and biology.

其中包括了物理、化學和生物。

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

所以「the cell」這個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塞結構，

and the little chambers he saw reminded him of cells, or the rooms monks slept in in their monasteries.

他覺得這些植物細胞結構有如「cells」，也就是教士們住的單人房。

Think college dorm rooms, but without the TV's, computers and really annoying roommates.

教士的單人房就像是沒有電視、電腦，以及吵鬧室友的單人宿舍。

Hooke was something of an underappreciated scientist of his day,

那時的虎克並不是一位被賞識的科學家，

something he brought upon himself as he made the mistake of locking horns with one of the most famous scientists ever, Sir Isaac Newton.

這要歸咎於他跟歷史上最有名的科學家之一，牛頓的論戰。

Remember when I said Hooke dabbled in many different fields?

還記得我說過虎克的科學興趣很廣泛嗎？

Well, after Newton published a groundbreaking book on how planets move due to gravity,

當時牛頓出版了一本劃時代的論著，講述星球是如何靠著萬有引力運行，

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

虎克聲稱牛頓的理論是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，

which sparked a tense relationship between the two that lasted even after Hooke died,

即使到了虎克死後兩人的關係仍舊緊張，

as quite a bit of Hooke's research, as well as his only portrait, was "misplaced", due to Newton.

且不只針對虎克的研究成果，因為牛頓的關係，虎克僅存的畫像被拆除了。

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

幸好，在牛頓死後，虎克的理論又再度被人重視，

but not his portrait, as sadly no one knows what Robert Hooke looked like.

但他的畫像卻永遠消失，使世人無法得知虎克的樣貌。

Fast-forward to the 1800s,

時間來到 19 世紀，

where two German scientists discovered something that today we might find rather obvious,

有兩位德國科學家，他們的發現用現代的角度來看可能非常理所當然，

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

但對當代細胞理論有著極大的貢獻。

The first scientist was Matthias Schleiden, a botanist who liked to study plants under a microscope.

第一位是許萊登，他是喜歡用顯微鏡研究植物結構的植物學家。

From his years of studying different plant species,

從他多年觀察植物的各種結構，

it finally dawned on him that every single plant he had looked at were all made of cells.

他發現所有植物都是由細胞構成的。

At the same time, on the other end of Germany, was Theodor Schwann,

同時，在德國的另一端，有一位叫作許旺的科學家，

a scientist who not only studied slides of animal cells under the microscope,

他不僅因為用顯微鏡研究動物細胞，

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

而被拿來替一種特殊的神經細胞命名，

but also invented re-breathers for firefighters and had a kickin' pair of sideburns.

他還發明了給消防人員專用的呼吸器，且擁有引人注目的一對鬢角。

After studying animal cells for a while, he too came to the conclusion that all animals were made of cells.

觀察動物細胞多年後，他的心得也是每種動物都由細胞構成。

Immediately, he reached out via snail mail, as Twitter had yet to be invented,

因為當時推特還沒被發明，所以他當下馬上將這概念用郵寄的方式

to other scientists working in the same field, met with Schleiden, who got back to him,

跟其他的科學同好分享，包括許萊登，

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

於是他們開始合作產生細胞理論的原型。

A bone of contention arose between them as for the last part of the cell theory that cells come from preexisting cells.

但細胞理論的第三法則，也就是「細胞是由已存在的細胞分裂而來」成為了他們爭執的點。

Schleiden didn't exactly subscribe to that thought as he swore cells came from free-cell formation,

許萊登不完全支持這個概念，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。

That's when another scientist, named Rudolph Virchow,

當時另一位叫作菲爾紹的科學家

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

加入討論並提出研究成果，證明所有細胞皆由已存在細胞分裂而來，

research that was actually-- hmm, how to put it? --

但這研究成果，該怎麼說呢，

borrowed without permission from a Jewish scientist by the name of Robert Remak,

其實是抄襲一位名叫雷馬克的猶太裔科學家，

which led to two more feuding scientists.

這又造成了兩位科學家的不合。

Thus, from teeth gunk to torquing off Newton, crystallization to Schwann cells,

所以，從牙齒汙垢到憤怒的牛頓，從結晶到許旺細胞，

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

細胞理論是現代生物學一門重要的學問。

Some things we know about science today may seem boring,

有些現代科學理論可能讀起來很無趣，

but how we came to know them is incredibly fascinating.

但是它們的發展可以說是耐人尋味。

So if something bores you, dig deeper.

所以如果你覺得某件事很無聊，深入探索吧。

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

你很有可能意外發現其背後的奇聞軼事。