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Early Thoughts
The first western thinker to ever suggest that life arose spontaneously was Anaximander, a Turkish philospher who wrote in the 6th and 5th centuries Before Christ. -
First microscope/Light Microscope
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Early modern challenges and Theories towards Spontaenous Genearation
Francisco Redi demonstrated in 1668 that maggots did not, contrary to Aristotle, arise spontaneously, but from eggs laid by adult flies -
Leeuwenhoek
Discrovered blood corpuscles, capillaries, and the structure of muscles and nerves. -
John Needham
John Needham conducted a series of events with boiled broths. He believed that boiling the substance, and living organisms would be killed. After boiling the broth and sealing the container, the broth was still continuing to cloud, this is a sign of life. He concluded that spontaneous generation was occuring after boiling. -
Lazzaro Spallanzani
Lazzaro Spallanzani, another Italian, modified the Needham experiment. Hy hypothesized that after Needham boiled the broth and placed it into the jar, the substance became contaminated. He effectively defeated any growth in the broth time and time again. However, the spontaneous generation followers quickly redacted their theories, stating that Spallanzani only proved that spontaneous generation could not occur without air. -
Louis Pasteur
Louis Pasteur, published an experiment he did to disproved Spontaneous Generation in these microscopic organisms. -
Theories adopted
Aristotle thought there were 4 elements that occured only beyond the moon. Aristotle claims only simple bodies and organisms could spontaneously generate.
