Lazzaro Spallanzani

Lazzaro Spallanzani (1729–1799) was an Italian Catholic priest and natural philosopher whose experiments on living organisms shaped early biology, physiology, and reproductive science.

Spontaneous generation: The obsolete idea that living organisms can arise directly from nonliving matter. His sealed-flask experiments challenged claims that microorganisms appeared spontaneously in broth.
Sterilization: The destruction or removal of microorganisms from an object or substance. Boiling broth was his method for testing whether life persisted after heating.
Scandiano: A town in Emilia-Romagna, Italy, where Lazzaro Spallanzani was born. Spallanzani was born there in 1729.
Biogenesis: The principle that living organisms arise from other living organisms. His experiments supported continuity of life against spontaneous-generation explanations.
Spallanzani's digestion experiments: Experiments showing that gastric juice can digest food outside the stomach. He demonstrated digestion by collecting gastric fluid from swallowed food-containing capsules.
Microorganism: An organism too small to be seen clearly without a microscope. Microscopic life was the disputed agent in the broth experiments.
University of Pavia: A public research university in Pavia, Italy, founded in 1361. He taught at Pavia and conducted much of his mature scientific work there.
Francesco Redi: An Italian physician and naturalist whose experiments challenged spontaneous generation in the seventeenth century. Redi's earlier tests with meat and flies provided a precedent for controlled challenges to spontaneous generation.
Spallanzani's bat experiments: Experiments showing that bats avoid obstacles without relying on sight. By blindfolding bats and covering their ears, he investigated how they sensed obstacles.
Louis Pasteur: A French chemist whose experiments and discoveries transformed microbiology and medicine. Pasteur later strengthened the experimental case against spontaneous generation.

Linked from 5 pages