spontaneous generation

• Théorie biologique aujourd'hui réfutée, selon laquelle des organismes vivants pouvaient surgir spontanément de la matière non vivante, comme des larves de mouches de la viande en décomposition. Cette conception servait historiquement à expliquer l'origine de formes de vie simples avant d'être invalidée par Louis Pasteur et d'autres au XIXe siècle.

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.

   génération spontanée

   • 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.