A lipid bilayer or bilayer lipid membrane (BLM)is a membrane composed of lipid molecules (usually phospholipids). The lipid bilayer is a critical component of all biological membranes, including cell membranes, and so is absolutely essential for all known life on Earth. Its essential structure was discovered in 1925 by two Dutch physicians, E.Gorter and F.Grendel, while they were comparing the surface area of human erythrocytes with that of the isolated lipids in a Langmuir-Blodgett trough. They found that the area of lipids from a known number of erythrocytes, when spread out on the trough, was just twice the calculated surface area of the erythrocytes. They concluded, correctly, that the membrane is two lipid molecules thick and proposed it is made of a bilayer.
