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330 BCE
Aristotle's theory of Spontaneous Generation
Aristotle was the first to compile and synthesize the theory of Spontaneous Generation that was believed for two millennia -
Recipe that "created" mice
During the 17th century, a recipe for a spontaneous production of mice was prevalent. This kind of production of the Spontaneous Generation was a widely held cultural and religious belief of the time. -
The first attack on the idea of Spontaneous Generation
An Italian scientist, Francesco Redi, opposed the idea of the Spontaneous Generation. To prove his idea, he tested a scientific experiment of whether maggots laid eggs in a flask open to air or arose spontaneously. As expected, maggots only appeared in open flasks and did not come from meat. -
A whole new world from microscopy
In the 1700s, microscopes were invented and widely used among scientists. It revealed a whole new world of organisms that arose spontaneously. It was learned that the "animalcules" were created spontaneously when hay was put in water. -
The proof of the Spontaneous Generation
In 1745, John Needham, an English clergy man, tested a scientific experiment to prove if microorganisms were created spontaneously. Everyone knew that boiling killed microorganism, therefore, sealed a flask with boiled chicken broth in it. Microorganisms grew, and spontaneous generation was claimed victory from Needham. -
Lazzaro Spallanzani's bash to the spontaneous generation
Lazzaro Spallanzani, an Italian scientist and priest, was not convinced of Needham's experiment. He modified Needham's experiment to test his theory. He sealed a flask with chicken broth and drew off air to create a partial vacuum, then boiled the broth. There were no signs of life from any microorganisms but people around argued that the Spontaneous Generation needed air in order to work. -
The Spontaneous Generation had been laid to rest
Louis Pasteur, a young French chemist, took the challenge to either prove or disapprove the theory of the Spontaneous Generation. By the sponsored contest from the French Academy of Sciences, he used a variation of both Needham and Spallanzani's methods. He boiled meat broth in a flask and bent the neck into a shape of an S. Air was able to enter but airborne microorganism weren't able to. As expected, the theory of the Spontaneous generation was disapproved. -
The slightest amount of possibility of the Spontaneous Generation
A famous physicist from Yale, Harold Morowitz, stated that the chance of life rose from non-life is 1 in 10 ^100,000,000,000. He said that this theory surpassed the scientific standard for statistical impossibility.