Francesco Redi

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1st in Pisa, Italy at the age in seventy-two. This was a grand age for the period at which he lived.
Spontaneous generation "is the ability of living organisms can originate in nonliving matter independently of other living matter.(Webster's)" This was popular belief before the seventeenth century. People saw dead organisms decay but couldn't understand how. They believed that microorganisms were able to appear on dead organisms without any contact with any other organism. Redi was out to disprove that theory. And this is how he did it…
Redi observed that maggots appear on uncovered meat. But he believed that life doesn't come from spontaneous generation. He set up an experiment with two jars. One covered, one not. In both jars he put raw meat. The meat in the uncovered soon attracted flies, which laid eggs on the piece of meat and produced maggots. In the covered jar the meat was not touched by flies and did not produce maggots. This proved that maggots come from flies, ...

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