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378 BCE
Aristotle
He discovered how embryos develop and that they are made up of undifferentiated material. This refutes cell theory because it shows that an embryo is not made out of nothing -
Zacharias Jansen
He made the microscope and this helps reject spontaneous generation because it helped other scientists reject it. 1590s -
Baptist Van Helmont
He figured out that plants do not get their food from soil. This does not refute spontaneous generation because it is talking about where plants get their food from. 1600s -
Robert Hooke
He looked at a cork under a microscope and saw something that looked like cellula, and he named them cells. This refutes spontaneous generation because it shows that things are made out of cells and this is apart of the cell theory. 1600s -
Anton van Leeuwenhoek
From the dental scrapings off of his teeth he discovered these things that looked like little animals, so he called them Animacules. These animacules he saw were actually bacteria. This refutes spontaneous generation because it shows that bacteria forms when it is on a surface that is dirty. 1600s -
Rudolf Virchow
He found out binary fission which is the means by which bacteria reproduce. He found out that cells are made by cells. This refutes spontaneous generation because it shows that cells are not made out of thin air and that they are made up of cells. Late 1800s -
Robert Brown
He discovered what a nucleus is and helped confirm that all living organisms are composed of cells and cells come from pre-existing cells. This refutes spontaneous generation because it shows where cells are coming from. Early 1800s -
Lorenz Oken
He discovered that all living things originate and consist of cells. This refutes spontaneous generation because it shows that organisms are made out of something. -
Matthias Schleiden
He found out that every plant is made up of cells. This rejects spontaneous generation because it shows that plants are made up of cells. 1830s -
Theodor Schwann
He noticed that every animal has the same structure that was these cells. This refutes spontaneous generation because it shows that animals are made up of cells. 1830s -
Albrecht von Roelliker
He discovered that sperm and egg are also cells. This denies spontaneous generation because it shows that sperm and eggs are cells and sperm and egg make people so it shows that people can be traced all the way down to cells. -
Louis Pasteur
He did the Swan-Neck bottle experiment in which you fill a swan-neck flask with broth and boil it to sterilize it and found out that if the broth is not exposed to the air there will be no growth of bacteria. This refutes spontaneous generation because it shows that bacteria needs forms when there is something for it to form onto/