Spontaneous generation is a superseded scientific theory holding that living creatures could arise from non-living matter as a commonplace, regular process, such as fleas from dust or maggots from dead flesh.
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Proposed BySourced to the subject's own account Spontaneous Generation
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Pasteur's 1859 swan-neck flask experiments showed that sterilized broth stayed free of microorganisms unless exposed to airborne dust, directly disproving spontaneous generation.
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1. Spontaneous Generation (Wikipedia)
WikipediaLead section (entity-description)
Spontaneous generation is a superseded scientific theory that held that living creatures could arise from non-living matter and that such processes were commonplace and regular. It was hypothesized that certain forms, such as fleas, could arise from inanimate matter such as dust, or that maggots could arise from dead flesh.
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coherently synthesized by the Greek philosopher and naturalist Aristotle
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