ANT 1520 Chapter Notes - Chapter 7: Francesco Redi, Lightning, Lazzaro Spallanzani
5 Aug 2020
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The theory of biogenesis proposes the origin of life from pre-existing living beings. It opposes old ideas of spontaneous generation, where living organisms could be "born" from inanimate matter - including mud, decomposing meat, and even dirty laundry. The first ideas related to biogenesis began to develop in the 17th century. Louis pasteur devised the most important experiments that supported the theory of biogenesis. Everything alive comes from another pre-existing living being. The main objective of biology is the study of life. For this reason, one of the most exciting - and intriguing - unknowns for biologists is to propose theories and formulate hypotheses to reveal how the origin of this phenomenon occurred. There are endless theories that seek to solve this riddle. Below we will describe two of the theories on the origin of life that preceded the theory of biogenesis, to achieve a historical perspective on the subject. Initially, it was thought that a divine creator created life.
