spontaneous generation

• Teoría biológica, hoy refutada, según la cual los organismos vivos podían surgir espontáneamente de la materia inerte, como larvas de moscas a partir de carne en descomposición. Históricamente se usó para explicar el origen de las formas de vida simples hasta que Louis Pasteur y otros la refutaron en el siglo XIX.

A now-discredited biological theory that living organisms can arise spontaneously from non-living matter, such as maggots appearing from decaying meat. This concept was historically used to explain the origin of simple life forms before being disproven by Louis Pasteur and others in the 19th century.

1. Obsolete biological theoryC1formal

   The now-disproven theory that living organisms can arise from non-living matter, such as maggots appearing from rotting meat.

   Generación espontánea

   • Spontaneous generation was once believed to explain the appearance of mice in stored grain.
   • Louis Pasteur's experiments disproved the theory of spontaneous generation.
   • Before the 19th century, many scientists accepted spontaneous generation as fact.