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5 BCE
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Levine, Russell, and Chris Evers. "The Slow Death of Spontaneous Generation (1668-1859)."Access Excellence at the National Health Museum-About Biotech. National Health Museum, 1999. Web. 14 Feb. 2017. http://webprojects.oit.ncsu.edu/project/bio183de/Black/cellintro/cellintro_reading/Spontaneous_Generation.html. -
5 BCE
BIBLIOGRAPHY
"Spontaneous Generation." Spontaneous Generation. Northern Arizona University, n.d. Web. 16 Feb. 2017. http://www2.nau.edu/gaud/bio301/content/spngen.htm. -
5 BCE
BIBLIOGRAPHY
"Anton Van Leeuwenhoek: A History of the Compound Microscope." Anton Van Leeuwenhoek - History of the Compound Microscope. History-of-the-microscope.org, 2010. Web. 17 Feb. 2017. http://www.history-of-the-microscope.org/anton-van-leeuwenhoek-microscope-history.php. -
5 BCE
BIBLIOGRAPHY
"Spontaneous generation." World of Scientific Discovery, Gale, 2007. Research in Context, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=MSIC&sw=w&u=cnisbj&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CCV1648500564&it=r&asid=2a5cc73eb966f34ff235caabcfa849b4. Accessed 19 Feb. 2017. -
5 BCE
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Dussault, Joseph. "How can life emerge from nonliving matter? UNC scientists find new evidence." Christian Science Monitor, 23 June 2015. Research in Context, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=MSIC&sw=w&u=cnisbj&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA419124374&it=r&asid=bb24f69ab3dfc3fbc19cd35bc5f793c1. Accessed 19 Feb. 2017. -
5 BCE
BIBLIOGRAPHY
All images used are in the public domain or are liscensed as free to share and use. -
4 BCE
Beginning of Spontaneous Generation
Aristotle introduces the idea of spontaneous generation -
Compound Microscopes Invented
Compound microscopes with magnification of 20-30x were invented and allowed people to see the smaller parts of organisms -
Francesco Redi's Experiment
Francesco Redi questions the theory of spontaneous generation and conducts several experiments on the generation of mice through meat. These experiments also happened to be the first examples of controlled experiments that we could acknowledge through our modern viewpoint. -
John Tuberville Needham's Experiment
John Tuberville Needham proposed an experiment in which he boiled chicken broth to rid it of microorganisms and put it in a sealed flask to wait and see if microorganisms would appear. Alas, microorganisms were discovered, “proving” spontaneous generation. -
Period: to
Lazzaro Spallanzani's Experiment
Lazzaro Spallanzani tried to disprove the theory of Spontaneous Generation by conducting a modified version of Needham’s experiment and concluded with results that could disprove some aspects of spontaneous generation, however, society interpreted his experiments as proving that spontaneous generation could not occur without air. -
Louis Pasture Conducts Swan Neck Experiment
Louis Pasture conducted an experiment with a flask with a curved neck. The broth was heated prevented airborne microorganisms from entering the broth for they would be caught in the neck due to gravity. There were no microorganisms in the broth; when he tilted the flask so that the broth would come into contact with the dip of the neck, signs of life were found. This “refuted the theory of spontaneous generation and convincingly demonstrated that microorganisms are everywhere – even in the air” -
Paris Academy of Sciences Offers Prize to Prove/Disprove Spontaneous Theory
The debate over whether spontaneous generation was a way in which living things could come into the world got so heated the Paris Academy of Sciences offered a prize for anyone who could come up with an experience that would put the debate to an end. -
Louis Pasteur Wins Prize from Paris Academy of Sciences
Louis Pasteur wins prize from Paris Academy of Sciences for disproved spontaneous generation -
Louis Pasteur Conducts Dust Experiment
Louis Pasteur conducts an experiment that shows that the dust in the air (dust contains microorganisms) could spoil meat by means of spreading organisms in it. -
The Origins of Life
Alexander Ivanovich Oparin publishes The Origins of Life, a book in which he discusses his theory in which for the first living thing to appear in early Earth, spontaneous generation might have taken place. -
Stanley Miller and Harold Urey's Experiment
Stanley Miller and Harold Urey conduct an experiment replicating the atmosphere of prebiotic Earth. They combined water, methane, ammonia, and hydrogen, all gasses present in the air of prebiotic Earth, and continuously sparked the sealed vials of these gasses with electricity to stimulate volcanic activity and lightning, and amino acids were produced. Many scientists are still skeptical towards the outcomes of this experiment for Earth’s composition may not be exactly like those they recreated -
The Reasearcher's Theory
The Researcher’s Theory was proposed by European scientists stating that the first “life” forms on earth were “nonliving cells made of iron sulfide” that “lived” on the lightless ocean floor. “Life” was brought into these cells as a “chemical response to convection currents running through the Earth’s ancient crust”. -
Evidence for Researcher's Theory Found
Traces of elements such as carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, which all associate with organisms and DNA were found in ancient pillow lava (solid lava in rounded masses, usually made underwater) of mineralized lava tubes, suggesting early life in the early oceanic crust, a key part to the Researcher’s Theory.
