Editing Francesco Redi (section)

===Entomology and spontaneous generation===
{{Main| Spontaneous generation}}
[[File:Francesco Redi Esperienze intorno alla Generazione degli Insetti.jpg|thumb|upright|''Esperienze intorno alla generazione degl'insetti'' frontcover]]

Redi is best known for his series of [[experiment]]s, published in 1668 as ''Esperienze intorno alla generazione degl'insetti'' (''Experiments on the Generation of Insects''), which is regarded as his masterpiece and a milestone in the history of modern science. The book is one of the first steps in refuting "[[spontaneous generation]]"—a theory also known as Aristotelian [[abiogenesis]]. At the time, the prevailing wisdom was that [[maggot]]s arose spontaneously from rotting meat.<ref name=lev/>

[[File:Esperimento abiogenesi.jpg|thumb|left| A modern rendering of Redi's experiment on abiogenesis]]

Redi took six jars and divided them into two groups of three: In one experiment, in the first jar of each group, he put an unknown object; in the second, a dead fish; in the last, a raw chunk of [[veal]]. Redi covered the tops of the first group of jars with fine [[gauze]] so that only air could get into them. He left the other group open. After several days, he saw maggots appear on the objects in the open jars, on which flies had been able to land, but not in the gauze-covered jars. In the second experiment, meat was kept in three jars. One of the jars was uncovered, and two of the jars were covered, one with cork and the other one with gauze. Flies could only enter the uncovered jar, and in this, maggots appeared. In the jar that was covered with gauze, maggots appeared on the gauze but did not survive.<ref>{{cite web |title= Esperienze intorno alla generazione degl'insetti fatte da Francesco Redi |author= Redi F |url= http://fermi.imss.fi.it/rd/bdv?/bdviewer/bid=323861 |url-status= live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120903004256/http://fermi.imss.fi.it/rd/bdv?%2Fbdviewer%2Fbid=323861 |archive-date= 3 September 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author= Barnett B |title= Francesco Redi and Spontaneous Generation |url= http://www.pasteurbrewing.com/Articles/spontaneous-generation/francesco-redi-and-spontaneous-generation.html |access-date= 18 April 2013 |date= 30 September 2011 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130523144406/http://www.pasteurbrewing.com/Articles/spontaneous-generation/francesco-redi-and-spontaneous-generation.html |archive-date= 23 May 2013 }}</ref>

[[File:Francesco Redi Esperienze intorno alla Generazione degli Insetti Mosca della Ciliegia.jpg|thumb|upright|Illustration from Rediʼs ''Esperienze intorno alla generazione degl'insetti'']]

Redi continued his experiments by capturing the maggots and waiting for them to metamorphose, which they did, becoming flies. Also, when dead flies or maggots were put in sealed jars with dead animals or veal, no maggots appeared, but when the same thing was done with living flies, maggots did. His interpretations were always based on biblical passages, such as his famous adage: ''omne vivum ex vivo'' ("All life comes from life").<ref name= ami/><ref>{{cite journal |author= Gottdenker P|title= Francesco Redi and the fly experiments| journal= Bull Hist Med |year=1979| volume=53 |issue=4 |pages= 575–592 |pmid= 397843}}</ref>