Félix Dujardin is credited with the discovery of protoplasm in 1835, initially calling it "sarcode."
The Discovery and Naming of Protoplasm
While Dujardin discovered protoplasm, the term itself was introduced later. Here's a breakdown:
- Félix Dujardin (1835): Observed a living substance in cells, which he named "sarcode." This is now understood to be protoplasm.
- Jan Evangelista Purkyně (1839): Coined the term "protoplasm" to describe the substance found in animal embryos.
Therefore, Dujardin discovered the substance but Purkyně gave it the name we use today. In eukaryotic cells, protoplasm within the nucleus is known as nucleoplasm, while the protoplasm outside the nucleus is called cytoplasm.
