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Mukherjee recounts the beginnings of cell theory among 19th-century European scientists and the growing consensus that the cell is the fundamental unit of life in plants and animals.

Only when cell theory established itself in the 1830s was preformationism abandoned.

For instance, zoologist Theodor Schwann’s exposure to German Romantic philosophies of universality probably inspired him to extend cell theory from plants to animals.

Just as the proliferation of cell theory powered extraordinary advances in biology, it is clear that single-cell analysis will open new vistas for scientists to explore.

When you tie it together with cell theory, both ideas are compellingly fortified.