The History of Diatom Discovery

Diatoms were first observed in 1703 by an unknown Englishman, published by the Royal Society of London in the Philosophical Transactions.. Observing with a simple microscope the roots of the pond weed Lemna, he "saw adhering to them (and sometimes separate in the water) many pretty branches, compos'd of rectangular oblongs and exact squares." The description refers to the filamentous species of diatoms now known as Tabelleria and is our first written record of diatoms in the scientific community. In the latter half of the 18th century, many diatoms were observed and given classifications. There was much disagreement as to whether diatoms should be classified as plants or animals. Since plants were not supposed to move (according to the best philosophy of the time) moving forms were often classified into the animal kingdom, while colonial forms and tube-dwelling types were thus classified into the plant kingdom. Upon greater accessibility of microscopes during the second half of the 19th century, diatoms, with their hard silica shells, great variety, and beauty, were well suited specimens for scientific observation. Interest in diatoms soared as microscopists competed amongst themselves to resolve the finest details of diatom valves. In 1844, Kutzing published the Monograph of 1844 in which he classified all diatoms as algae. Most people in the scientific community followed suit, and disagreements about diatom classification disappeared. The close of the 19th century left us with a huge collection of diatom types collected on a world-wide basis. Diatoms were also one of the first specimens in which the details of cell division (i.e. mitosis) were examined. The exquisite drawing of diatom mitosis by Lauterborn, published in 1896. He first observed many detailed structures which have since been confirmed by electron microscopy.