Francesco Redi

There are many famous scientists that exist and have in the past existed. Some may be slightly more important then others, but in the end they are all equally important. One scientist is Francesco Redi. Francesco was an Italian physician and poet who was one of the first people to serious attack the idea of spontaneous generation in 1668. Spontaneous generation is simply a supposed process (that never was completely observed) in which a living thing is created from something that is nonliving. He disproved this theory by setting up various experiments, one in which he put meat in a flask and either left it open to the air, sealed it completely, or covered the flask with gauze. After the experiment the maggots only appeared in the open flask (disproving spontaneous generation slightly). This experiment conducted with the flasks was one of the first to be conducted in a “modern sense”. Although the experiment did prove his hypothesis correct the theory of spontaneous generation did continue, by Francesco was indeed one of the first to conduct the experiment. His one experiment wasn’t only known because it disproved spontaneous generation it is also well known because the experiment gave way to our modern experimentation and using controls. This experiment showed a new way to experiment and think using the control, multiple trial, and in general a new way of thinking. So as you can see that one experiment is so important and widely known because it resulted in the two things, the one being that spontaneous generation was a fake and then again two that the way he set up and thought about testing his hypothesis. But Francesco didn’t just stop with that one experiment, he also was known for experiments that included snakes and worms, for example he was the first to suggest things like snake venom located behind the fangs and also when he described over 100 parasitic worms from animals, mollusks, and crustaceans. As most know Redi was an extremely well known

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