Research Assignment-Cells

Over the years the scientific perspective on living organisms has changed radically, mainly from
technological advances enabling us to investigate and peer into the minute details of living things.
From the usage of microscopes and computer technology, scientists are now able to form basic
conclusions on life and how it is sustained in the world.

Spontaneous Generation

One of the first theories of life was named “The theory of

spontaneous generation”. It was a hypothetical process
which stated that living organisms could develop from
non-living matter. Many archaic philosophers and
scientist came about this theory mainly from maggots
generated on meat. They speculated that the maggots
just “appeared” from non-living matter, the meat in this
instance, and that this proved all life came from some sort of non-living matter. They also thought
this because of multiple other scenarios including mice appearing on grain, and fish appearing in
mud. In these circumstances however, it was actually another living thing starting other life. In the
case of the maggots, this was disproven by sealing a container and discovering that the maggots
would not form, as flies would fly into the jar and lay their eggs, and consequently sealing the
container would stop this. The mud scenario can be explained by the presence of mudskippers in the
mud; and the mice explained by the mice being drawn into the prospect of food. All of these
experiments disprove the spontaneous generation of life.

Francesco Redi

Italian physician Francesco Redi paved the way for disproving

Spontaneous Generation. In 1668 he published a set of works and
experiments refuting this theory. In his experiment, he took 6 jars and
divided them in two groups of 3. In one experiment, in the first jar, he
put an unknown object; in the second, a dead fish, and in the last, a raw
piece of veal. In one group, he covered the three jars with fine gauze so
only air could get into it. He left the other group open. After a few days,
he noticed maggots appear on objects in the open jars, but not on the
gauze covered jars. In his second experiment meat was kept in three
separate jars. One was uncovered, another was covered with gauze and
another covered with cork. Flies could only enter the uncovered jar,
and in this, maggots appeared. In the jar that was covered with gauze,
maggots appeared but could not survive. Redi continued experimenting with spontaneous
generation by capturing the maggots and waiting for them to metamorphose becoming flies. He
observed that when dead flies were placed in the jars of veal, there were no maggots, but when
live flies were placed in them, maggots appeared, thus proving spontaneous generation
incorrect and concluding that the maggots appeared when live flies laid their eggs on the meat.

Louis Pasteur: Spontaneous Generation

In 1859, Louis Pasteur set out to develop an experiment to disprove spontaneous generation, on
the basis that his previous germ theory could not be possible if spontaneous generation existed.
He used a simple experimental method; by boiling beef broth in a process called pasteurization,
he was able to sterilise the liquid, in other words, remove all bacteria and living organisms from
the beef broth. Pasteur put the liquid in his own “swan-neck” flask, a flask shaped like an s. This
flask with a long protuding tube was able to trap dust particles and contaminants before
reaching the main body of the flask. If the boiled broth was exposed to air, it eventually became
clouding, indicating microbial contamination. This experiment disproved the philosophical
theory of spontaneous generation as, if the sterilized liquid remained in the flask, there was no
evidence of life.

Impacts on Today’s World

Pasteur’s work in other fields of science is also profound. He developed numerous theories and
performed experiments related to germ theory, vaccinations and developed the modern idea of
pasteurisation. While working in alcohol fementation he unexpectedly stumbled upon another
new discovery of aerobic and anaerobic organisms. He discovered that the process of
fermentation could be done by removing oxygen, hence the discovery of these terms. In the
1870s, when he had gained a fairly good reputation, the medical community were still reluctant
to accept Louis Pasteur’s germ theory of disease, suggesting that certain diseases are caused by
microorganisms invading the body, too small for a microscope to see. Willing to prove his worth
in the field of medicine, Pasteur began his work on vaccine development. In 1879, he was
investigating a disease called chicken cholera. It was just chance that during his obswervation, he
discovered that cultures of this disease lost some their pathogenicity, and had kept
“attenutated” strains of the disease. He took some of this attenuated strain and inoculated other
chickens, proving that the chickens were resistent to the virulent disease. This discovery has
founded the basis of immunization, used in society today. While working in alcohol
fermentation, Pasteur studied wine contamination and discovered it to be caused by microbes.
Pasteur utilised a simple procedure, to heat the wine to roughly 55 degrees Celcius. This process
was named pasteurization and although it is not applied to wine very much, since it kills
organisms for fermentation, it is applied to many things, in particular milk. These discoveries
have been influential on the modern world. His experiments paved the way for modern
discoveries which are influential on our world.

Bibliography:

1.Website: Ullmann, A. (2019). Encyclopedia Britannica Inc.: “Louis Pasteur”

<https://www.britannica.com/biography/Louis-Pasteur>

2.Website: Famous Scientists. (2016). Famous Scientists: “Francesco Redi”

<https://www.famousscientists.org/francesco-redi/>

3.Website: Lumen Learning. Lumen Learning: “Spontaneous generation.”

<https://courses.lumenlearning.com/microbiology/chapter/spontaneous-generation/>