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Francesco Redi
Francesco Redi, an Italian scientist, performed an experiment to test the spontaneous generation theory. He placed fresh meat in two different jars, and one was left open while the other was not. After a few days the open jar had mascots and the closed jar was empty but there were mascots on the outter surface of the jar. He proved that the maggots came from fly eggs to disprove spontaneous generation. -
John Needham
John Needham conducted an experiment where he heated a bottle of broth to kill any living thing that was in the bottle and then sealed the bottle. After a few days, he claimed to have found life in the broth but in reality, he didn't successfully kill all living organisms that orignally existed. -
Lazzaro Spallanzani
Lazzaro Spallanzani repeated John Needham's experiment except he removed all the air from the broth bottle. He disprove Needham's experiment since no growth occured when the air was removed. -
Louis Pasteur
Louis Pasteur finally disporved the theory. He proved air is full of microorganisms by performing an experiment where air was passed through gun cotton filters and the filter trapped particles that was floating in the air. He dissolved the cotton using ether and alcohol. The particles were released to the bottom of the liquid. He found many microbes that resembled bacteria found in putrefying media. Pasteur finally concluded that these bacteria would land and contaminate materials exposed to it. -
Thomas H. Huxley
Thomas H. Huxley gave a lectured named "Biogenesis and Abiogenesis" where he powerfully supported Pasteur's experiment and the disproval of spontaneous generation. -
John Tyndall
John Tyndall proved the existance of heat-resistant spores in many materials by publishing his method for fractional sterilization.