One of the great things about science is that when scientists make a discovery,
关于科学最伟大的一件事就是，当科学家有一项巨大的科学突破时，
it's not always in a prescribed manner, as in, only in a laboratory under strict settings,
这不一定是循规蹈矩的实验成果，例如，在实验室按照处方做实验，
with white lab coats and all sorts of neat science gizmos that go, 'Beep'
穿着白色实验服和使用会发出'嘟!'声的专门仪器。
In reality, the events and people involved in some of the major scientific discoveries are as weird and varied as they get.
实际上，这些科学家和他们伟大的科学发明都有些奇趣和不寻常。
My case in point: The Weird History of the Cell Theory.
我在这所要解说的是：奇趣的细胞理论历史。
There are three parts to the cell theory.
细胞理论包含3个法则。
One: all organisms are composed of one or more cells.
第一: 所有生物都是由细胞组成的。
Two: the cell is the basic unit of structure and organization in organisms.
第二: 细胞是所有生物最基本的单位。
And three: all cells come from preexisting cells.
第三: 所有细胞繁衍于已存在的细胞。
To be honest, this all sounds incredibly boring
说真的，这样听起来是不是超无趣？
until you dig a little deeper into how the world of microscopic organisms, and this theory came to be.
所以让我们从微生物的世界和这理论的来历说起。
It all started in the early 1600s in the Netherlands, where a spectacle maker named Zacharias Janssen
据说在17世纪，荷兰有一个叫做查哈里亚斯·杨森的眼镜制造商
is said to have come up with the first compound microscope, along with the first telescope.
他发明了显微镜和历史上第一个望远镜。
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.
但这两样仪器的发明者还有待确认，因为很显然的，杨森不是那时唯一喜欢玩镜片的家伙。
Despite this, the microscope soon became a hot item
尽管这样，显微镜很快就成为了一个热门货，
that every naturalist or scientist at the time wanted to play with, making it much like the iPad of its day.
那时的每个博物学家或科学家都想拥有一个，其受欢迎的程度跟现代的iPad有得比。
One such person was a fellow Dutchman by the name of Anton van Leeuwenhoek, who heard about these microscope doohickeys,
在这之后，另一个叫做安东·范·列文虎克的荷兰人，对显微镜这玩意儿兴趣很高，
and instead of going out and buying one, he decided to make his own.
但他不想去买一个，所以他决定自己做一个来玩玩。
And it was a strange little contraption indeed, as it looked more like a tiny paddle the size of a sunglass lens.
这的确是一个奇异的小玩意儿，因为它看上去像是太阳镜片大小的小桨。
If he had stuck two together, it probably would have made a wicked set of sunglasses that you couldn't see much out of.
如果他将两个粘在一起，它有可能是一副绝妙的太阳眼镜...完全能防止阳光侵透。
Anyhoo, once Leeuwenhoek had his microscope ready, he went to town,
话说回来，当列文虎克完成了他的显微镜，他到了城里，
looking at anything and everything he could with them, including the gunk on his teeth. Yes, you heard right.
什么都用他的新显微镜拿来研究一番，包括他牙齿上的污垢。对，你没听错。
He actually discovered bacteria by looking at dental scrapings,
他就是如此而发现了细菌，
which, when you keep in mind that people didn't brush their teeth much -- if at all -- back then,
当然，你要知道当时的人不常刷牙，或者可以说是完全不刷牙的，
he must have had a lovely bunch of bacteria to look at.
所以他有满嘴的细菌来研究。
When he wrote about his discovery, he didn't call them bacteria, as we know them today.
当他写出这一发现时，他并不称呼这些污垢为细菌。
But he called them 'animalcules,' because they looked like little animals to him.
他叫它们'动物分子'，因为它们看起来像小动物。
While Leeuwenhoek was staring at his teeth gunk,
列文虎克在研究他牙齿的污垢的同时，
he was also sending letters to a scientific colleague in England, by the name of Robert Hooke.
他还给一位名叫罗伯特·胡克的英国科学界同事写了一封信。
Hooke was a guy who really loved all aspects of science,
胡克的科学研究兴趣很广泛，
so he dabbled in a little bit of everything, including physics, chemistry and biology.
他涉猎的包括物理、化学和生物。
Thus it is Hooke who we can thank for the term 'the cell,'
所以，细胞(cell)这名称就是拜胡克所赐。
as he was looking at a piece of cork under his microscope,
这名称来自他用显微镜观察到的软木片结构，
and the little chambers he saw reminded him of cells, or the rooms monks slept in, in their monasteries.
他觉得这些植物细胞结构有如教士们住的单人房，英文名称为cell。
Think college dorm rooms, but without the TVs, computers and really annoying roommates.
想象一下大学宿舍，但是没有电视、计算机和吵闹的室友。

Hooke was something of an underappreciated scientist of his day -- something he brought upon himself,
那时的胡克并不是一位被赏识的科学家--这要归咎于
as he made the mistake of locking horns with one of the most famous scientists ever, Sir Isaac Newton.
他跟史上最有名的科学家之一艾萨克·牛顿起了争吵。
Remember when I said Hooke dabbled in many different fields?
还记得我说过胡克的科学兴趣很广泛吗？
Well, after Newton published a groundbreaking book on how planets move due to gravity,
当时牛顿出版了一本关于万有引力的划时代的论著，
Hooke made the claim that Newton had been inspired by Hooke's work in physics.
胡克声称牛顿的理论是受到他物理研究成果的启发。
Newton, to say the least, did not like that,
不夸张地说，牛顿非常的愤怒，
which sparked a tense relationship between the two that lasted even after Hooke died,
即便在胡克死后，两人的关系仍旧紧张，
as quite a bit of Hooke's research -- as well as his only portrait -- was ... misplaced, due to Newton.
且不只是针对胡克的研究成果，还有胡克仅存的肖像，这都是牛顿的关系。
Much of it was rediscovered, thankfully, after Newton's time, but not his portrait, as, sadly, no one knows what Robert Hooke looked like.
还好，在牛顿去世后，胡克的理论又重被世人重视，但他的肖像却永远消失，使得后人无法得知胡克的样貌。
Fast-forward to the 1800s, where two German scientists discovered something that today we might find rather obvious,
我们现在跳到19世纪，有两位德国科学家，他们的发现用现代眼光来看可能非常理所当然，
but helped tie together what we now know as the cell theory.
但对当代细胞理论有着极大贡献。
The first scientist was Matthias Schleiden, a botanist who liked to study plants under a microscope.
第一位是施莱登，他是喜欢用显微镜研究植物结构的植物学家。
From his years of studying different plant species,
从他多年观察各种植物的结构，
it finally dawned on him that every single plant he had looked at were all made of cells.
他发现所有植物都是由细胞构成的。
At the same time, on the other end of Germany was Theodor Schwann,
同时，在德国的另一端，有一位叫施旺的科学家，
a scientist who not only studied slides of animal cells under the microscope
他专门用显微镜研究动物细胞，
and got a special type of nerve cell named after him,
施旺细胞就是以他名字命名的一种特殊类型的神经细胞，
but also invented rebreathers for firefighters, and had a kickin' pair of sideburns.
不只如此，他也发明了给消防队员用的呼吸器，并留有引人注目的两鬓胡须。
After studying animal cells for a while, he, too, came to the conclusion that all animals were made of cells.
他多年观察动物细胞的心得是，每种动物都是由细胞构成的。
Immediately, he reached out via snail mail, as Twitter had yet to be invented,
因为当时推特还有待发明，所以他当下马上将这概念用蜗牛信的方式
to other scientists working in the same field with Schleiden, who got back to him,
跟其他的科学同好分享，包括施莱登，
and the two started working on the beginnings of the cell theory.
于是他们开始合作研究细胞理论的原型。
A bone of contention arose between them.
争论的焦点在他们之间出现了。
As for the last part of the cell theory -- that cells come from preexisting cells
细胞理论的最后一部分--所有细胞繁衍于已存在的细胞
Schleiden didn't exactly subscribe to that thought, as he swore cells came from free-cell formation,
施莱登不完全支持这概念，他主张细胞是自发形成的，
where they just kind of spontaneously crystallized into existence.
类似自发结晶而产生的。
That's when another scientist named Rudolph Virchow, stepped in with research showing that cells did come from other cells,
当时，另一位名叫菲尔绍的科学家介入了研究，证明所有细胞繁衍于已存在的细胞，
research that was actually -- hmm ... How to put it?--'borrowed without permission' from a Jewish scientist by the name of Robert Remak,
但这研究成果，哎呀，要怎么说呢，是抄袭于一位名叫雷马克的犹太裔科学家，
which led to two more feuding scientists.
因此这又造就了两位不合的科学家。
Thus, from teeth gunk to torquing off Newton, crystallization to Schwann cells,
所以从牙齿的污垢到恼怒的牛顿，从结晶到施旺细胞，
the cell theory came to be an important part of biology today.
演变而来的细胞理论是现代生物学一门重要的学问。
Some things we know about science today may seem boring, but how we came to know them is incredibly fascinating.
有些现代科学理论可能读起来很无趣，但是他们的发展可以说是耐人寻味。
So if something bores you, dig deeper.
因此，当某些事让你无聊时，再深入挖掘一下。
It's probably got a really weird story behind it somewhere.
你就有可能发现其背后一些奇趣的故事。