AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Louis Pasteur is credited with conclusively disproving the theory of spontaneous generation with his famous swan-neck flask experiment.

Detailed explanation-2: -Disproving Spontaneous Generation In 1858, Pasteur filtered air through a gun-cotton filter and, upon microscopic examination of the cotton, found it full of microorganisms, suggesting that the exposure of a broth to air was not introducing a “life force” to the broth but rather airborne microorganisms.

Detailed explanation-3: -Louis Pasteur designed a procedure to test whether sterile nutrient broth could spontaneously generate microbial life. To do this, he set up two experiments. In both, Pasteur added nutrient broth to flasks, bent the necks of the flasks into S shapes, and then boiled the broth to kill any existing microbes.

Detailed explanation-4: -The Greek philosopher Aristotle (384–322 BC) was one of the earliest recorded scholars to articulate the theory of spontaneous generation, the notion that life can arise from nonliving matter. Aristotle proposed that life arose from nonliving material if the material contained pneuma (“spirit” or “breath”).

Detailed explanation-5: -3.1: Spontaneous Generation Louis Pasteur is credited with conclusively disproving the theory and proposed that “life only comes from life.”