Understanding what? The basic functions of a cell have been understood since much longer ago than 1971. >Some consider this model a significant contribution to

Understanding what? The basic functions of a cell have been understood since much longer ago than 1971. >Some consider this model a significant contribution to origin of life as it provides a philosophy of evolutionary units.[4] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemoton https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemoton Read the wiki. Its just describing what a cell is and putting the word "abstract" in front of everything. It makes no prediction, it produced no results. Evidently not everyone considers it a significant contribution.