Theories of Cell Division

Usually, it is easier to invent a new theory of cell division than to test an old one.
- L.V.Heilbrunn, The Colloid Chemistry of Protoplasm (p.256)

Because of the rain, I didn't go to the lab today but stayed at home reading books instead. I would like to quote some words from R.Rappaport's book "Cytokinesis in Animal Cell (1996)". It could give you a sense on what a weird field I am in right now, ha!

--
Second Chapter "Theories of Cell Division"

Page 54 (for cytokinesis studies)
It now seems apparent that a detailed knowledge of the nature and scheduling of the normal events of cell division did not greatly limit the number of potential logical explanations. The difficulty in understanding lay not in an inability to explain the process, but rather in the overwhelming number of reasonable possibilities. Deeper understanding required the consideratin of experimental facts obtained by observating the course of events when division occurs under imposed, unusual circumstances. Despite occasional zealous assertions of proprietary rights, the originator of a theory and even its previous existence were sometimes forgotten. There followed a cyclical reemergence of the same idea as it occurred to a succession of authors. The impetus for the idea's reappearance sometimes appeared to be its perceived freshness and "orginality" rather than the development of new supporting data.

Page 55 (for Systems Biology)
At times the gap between experimentalists and theorists appeared unbridgeable, and the two groups took little account of each other's work. It was as though the former regarded the latter as bright enough but a little lazy (because they did not keep up with experimental literature), and inclined to use free play of the imagination unfettered by data because they were constitutionally incapable of designing good experiments. The latter, however, appeared to relegate the former to the ranks of the merely clever who were incapable of appreciating the beauty of a hypothesis apart from its relation to reality.