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400 BCE
400 BC
Aristotle said that animal came from their parent, and others grew spontaneously from air -
1668
Francesco Redi believed maggot doesn't came from the air, they came from flies that laid the eggs. He set meat in many flask, some open to the air, some sealed and others covered with gauze. Maggot only appeared in the open flask -
1745
John Needham test that microorganisms appeared spontaneously after boiling. He put chicken broth in to a flask and sealed it. Microorganisms did grew after a while. -
1745
Lazzaro Spallanzani think the microorganisms entered the flask from the air after boiled. He place the broth in a flask then sealed it, drew off the air then boiled it, no microorganisms grew. But he only prove spontaneous generation can't happen with out air. -
1895 the Swan-neck flask experiment
Louis Pateur boiled meat broth in a flask, heat the neck of the flask and turned it into a "S" shape so that air can enter but microorganisms can't. He proved that microorganism are everywhere, even in the air