Spontaneous

Inventions and Discoveries that Steered People Away from Spontaneous Generation

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    B.C. Creation of the Lyceum

     B.C. Creation of the Lyceum
    Aristotle ran the Lyceum, a school of science, which the main goal was to try to exceed anything that had gone before. He had the first science department ever. Without this school, no approach to science would of been made for at least 2,000 years.
  • Invention of the Compound Microscope

    Invention of the Compound Microscope
    Zacharias Jansen invented the compound microscope which uses two lenses instead of one to have a greater magnification. Without the compound microscope, people would have never been able to look at and discover cells.
  • Identification of Carbon Dioxide

    Identification of Carbon Dioxide
    Jan Baptist van Helmontidentified carbon dioxide and recognized that many reactions produce gases. This steered people away from thinking that gases appeared out of nowhere.
  • Discovery of The Law of Elasticity

    Discovery of The Law of Elasticity
    Robert Hooke discovered the Law of Elasticity which states that stretching a solid material is proportional to the force that is applied to it.
  • Discovery of Microorganisms

    Discovery of Microorganisms
    Anton van Leeuwenhoek improved the microscope to have a magnification of 500x which let him be able to see sperm cells. This discovery made scientists question where life came from.
  • All Organisms Come From and Consist of Cells

    All Organisms Come From and Consist of Cells
    Lorenz Oken stated that all organisms come from and consist of cells, the first statement of cell theory. This lead to scientists later testing his theory.
  • The Discovery of the Nucleus In Plant Cells

    The Discovery of the Nucleus In Plant Cells
    Robert Brown dicovered the nucleus in plant cells. He realized that it was a component of ALL plant cells.
  • Connection of Cell Division and the Nucleus of Cells

    Connection of Cell Division and the Nucleus of Cells
    Matthias Schleiden recognized how important the nucleus was and thought it was connected to cell division in some way but later discoveries proved him wrong.
  • All living things are composed of cells

    All living things are composed of cells
    Theodor Schwann extended Matthias Schleiden's theory that all plants are made of cells to the theory that all living things are made of cells.
  • Sperm Cells and Egg Cells are Also Cells

    Sperm Cells and Egg Cells are Also Cells
    Albrecht von Roelliker proved that sperm cells and egg cells are also cells.
  • All Cells Come From Existing Cells

    All Cells Come From Existing Cells
    Rudolf Virchow discovered that diseases actually arose from individual cells inside the organ and tissue, which means that all cells come from existing cells. This shows people that diseases actually come from cells instead of appearing out of nowhere.
  • The Spread of Bacteria can be Controlled

    The Spread of Bacteria can be Controlled
    Louis Pasteur boiled meat broth in a flask and heated the neck of it until it became pliable and bent it into an 'S' shape so that air could get throught to the broth but microorganisms couldn't. Nothing grew. He then tilted the flask so the airborn microorganisms could reach the broth and it rapidly got cloudier. This discovery shows that the spread of bacteria can be controlled.