Until the 1940s, many biologists thought of the cell as simply a "bag of enzymes." That view changed when three Rockefeller University cell biologists (Albert Claude, Christian de Duve and George Palade) isolated and studied subcells with the electron microscope. The University noted, "A cellular city was entered and explored, a domain of subcellular power stations (mitochondria), waste disposal stations (lysosomes), protein factories (ribosomes), and protein packaging and export facilities (the endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi apparatus)." This groundbreaking research earned the three cell biologists the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine in 1974. Palade, who was born in Romania on this date in 1912, came to the United States in 1945 and joined Claude’s research team in 1946.

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