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384 BCE
The beginning of Spontaneous Generation (384-322BC)
Aristotle, a Greek Philosopher, and scientist was one of the first believers in the idea of spontaneous generation. He also argued that spontaneous generation was one of the four means of reproduction. Aristotle and other classical scientists also believed that the idea of non-living organisms such as dirt could spontaneously arise. -
Francesco Redi Challenges (1668)
Redi first challenged the idea the maggots did not come from rotten meat, but instead, from eggs that were laid on the rotten meat by flies. To test his theory out, Francesco set out an experiment where he placed meat in jars where some were open while others were sealed. As expected, maggots only appeared to the jars which the flies could get in. Redi’s theory was proven right. However, back then, the general public still did not believe in his results. -
The Connection between Microscopes (1680)
As the age of technology began to roll in, more powerful microscopes soon took over the lives of many scientists. Meanwhile, while new technology rolled in, many scientists also found new microorganisms that were never have thought to exist before. As a result, to explain these unknown microorganisms seen under the microscope, scientists explained the the general public that spontaneous generation was the explanation for these organisms as if it was like these cells have come out of the blue. -
John Needham
In 1745, John Needham knew that boiling kills microorganisms. So, John set out to test if whether any microorganisms would appear even after boiling. He set out boiling chicken, corn broths and waited. Soon after they were boiled, John took the chicken and corn out and thoroughly examined it. He figured that microorganisms were still there as if they had spontaneously appeared. After his experiment, he thought that he had won the battle for spontaneous generation. -
Lazzaro Spallanzani
In 1768, Lazzaro boiled broth and sealed it tightly in a glass flask. He noticed that no such organism such as bacteria would grow inside the container, he proposed that with the broth sealed, it would remain sterile forever. In this experiment, John prooved the spontaneous generation wrong. However
the people did not support Lazzaro’s finding as they thought boiling the broth then completely sealing the flask somehow changed the air to prevent the spontaneous generation from developing. -
The End of Spontaneous Generation
In 1859, the French academy of Science sponsored a competition for scientists to prove or disprove the Spontaneous generation. French Chemist Louis Pasteur did an experiment which had a variation of methods that Spallanzani and Needham used. His first experiment was where Pasteur filled flasks with beef broth and boiled them. He left some flasks open while completely sealing others. As expected, the sealed flask remained free of microorganisms while open flasks were contaminated within days.
