Ernest Overton

Charles Ernest Overton (1865–1933) was a British physiologist and biologist, now regarded as a pioneer of the theory of the cell membrane.

In the last years of the 19th century Overton did experimental work, allowing the distinction to be drawn between the cell wall of plants and their cytoplasmic membrane. He studied the permeability of a range of biological materials to around 500 chemical compounds.

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