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300 BCE
Aristotle
idea that living things came from non-living matter -
Francesco Redi
early experiment with meat in jars that were covered or open, only the open jars got maggots -
John Needham
boiled broth, put a lid on it, still grew spoilage -
Lazzaro Spallanzani
boiling broth while covered kills mircrobes, and they won't grow back
boiling uncovered --> bacteria will grow when cooled -
Felix Pouchet
air drawn through a cotton plug contains thousands of tiny microscopic life forms, thus the air contains life, but tiny -
Louis Pastur
Swan neck flask experiment forever disproved spontaneous generation and led to the germ theory -
Ferdinand Cohn
developed first classification system for bacteria