Under the microscope lens

Part Three: how organisms are born

Abstract

This is the third and final part of the history of microscope observations begun in issue no. 3/2021 of the magazine and continued in no. 1/2022. A new series of innovations between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries makes it possible to identify cellular structures whose existence was not even suspected. Among the cells, the gametes are the object of particular attention: the new observations allow the full understanding of fertilization. The historical narration stops with the end of the XIX century. The twentieth century will see, among other things, the advent of electron microscopy, through which it will be possible to push the eye on incredibly fine details of the organization of living things.