Redi, Francesco (1626-1697)

Italian physician and poet who disputed the spontaneous-generation theory, the erroneous belief that animals can be generated spontaneously from decaying matter, and performed one of the first controlled biological experiments.

He was the first to provide experimental evidence to dispute the theory that fair-sized animals can be generated spontaneously from decaying matter; a well-established and accepted view of the time.

He showed that maggots do not breed spontaneously in decaying flesh, in a series of experiments using meat samples, half of which were exposed to air, while the other half were sealed. Only the exposed meat developed maggots, proving that maggots are, in fact, derived from eggs laid in meat by flies. Despite this advance, however, Redi continued to believe that spontaneous generation could occur in some instances and cited the example of grubs developing in oak trees.

Redi was born in Arezzo in Italy and studied medicine in Pisa and Florence before working as a physician.