Lazzaro Spallanzani is often credited with being one of the founders of modern experimental biology. Though he always worked with physics, geology, chemistry, and meteorology, biology was his main area of interest. He is most famed for his experiment boiling microbes that lead the way for the defeat of the theory of spontaneous generation.
Early Life
Lazzaro Spallanzani was born in Scandiano, Italy in 1729. In college he started studying law, but soon turned to science. He ended up becoming a doctor of philosophy, but also studied metaphysics and theology. He became an ordained priest, though his career was mostly academic and he performed his priestly duties irregularly.
Spallanzani Boiling Experiment
In Spallanzani’s most famous experiment he researched the theory of spontaneous generation of microbes. This theory held that living creatures could form from nonliving matter, and that this was a common occurrence. There were many proponents of the theory at the time Spallanzani began researching it in 1768.
In his experiment he filled 4 flasks an exposed each flask to a different condition. The first flask was left opened, the second flask was sealed, the third flask was boiled and left open, and the final flask was boiled and sealed.
The first flask, which was left open turned cloudy and had microbes. The second flask that was sealed had microbes and was also cloudy. The third flask which was boiled and left open also had microbes and was cloudy. It was the fourth flask that was different. Flask four, which was boiled and sealed was not cloudy and had no microbes.
This showed Spallanzani that microbes do not spontaneously generate. If they formed out of nowhere then all the flasks would have microbes. There were still many critics who argued against Spallanzani’s findings, but his research lead the way for other researchers like Louis Pasteur to disprove the theory of spontaneous generation once and for all.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lazzaro_Spallanzani
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spontaneous_generation
https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/science-and-technology/biology-biographies/lazzaro-spallanzani