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Period: 1000 BCE to
History of Spontaneous Generation
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30 BCE
Ancient Egypt
When the Nile had flood seasons, the mud overflowed the crops and after a couple of days frogs "spawned". Thus people came to the conclusion that frogs arise from mud. Alcamo, Edward I. "Spontaneous Generation." Spontaneous Generation. Nau.edu, 1997. Web. 14 Feb. 2017. -
Reidi's Experiment
In an experiment designed to prove that maggot's didn't "spawn" from meat, Reidi set up two flasks, one sealed and one opened. After a couple of days, the opened flask stored maggots in meat and the sealed flask had no maggots. This disproved the common "recipe" to make maggots, but also began the attack on Spontaneous Generation theory. Aris, Ruthford. "Francesco Redi and Controlled Experiments." Francesco Redi and Controlled Experiments. Scientus.org, n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2017. -
Period: to
Death of Spontaneous Generation
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Disproval of Spontaneous Generation
In 1859, French Academy of Science hosted a science fair with the purpose to prove/disprove Spontaneous Generation. Louis Pasteur conducted an experiment where he set up two S shaped flasks and filled it with broth, then heated to sterilize the flasks, then he exposed one flask to air and left the other one alone. The dust particles dropped into the unprotected flask into the broth and created micro-organisms while the protected broth had no organisms spawn, disproving spontaneous generation.