<P> Louis Pasteur 's 1859 experiment is widely seen as having settled the question of spontaneous generation . He boiled a meat broth in a flask that had a long neck that curved downward , like that of a goose or swan . The idea was that the bend in the neck prevented falling particles from reaching the broth , while still allowing the free flow of air . The flask remained free of growth for an extended period . When the flask was turned so that particles could fall down the bends , the broth quickly became clouded . However , minority objections were persistent and not always unreasonable , given that the experimental difficulties were far more challenging than the popular accounts suggest . The investigations of John Tyndall , a correspondent of Pasteur and a great admirer of Pasteur 's work , were decisive in disproving spontaneous generation with dealing with lingering issues . Still , even Tyndall encountered difficulties in dealing with the effects of microbial spores , which were not well understood in his day . Like Pasteur , he boiled his cultures to sterilize them , and some types of bacterial spores can survive boiling . The autoclave , which eventually came into universal application in medical practice and microbiology to sterilise equipment , was not an instrument that had come into use at the time of Tyndall 's experiments , let alone those of Pasteur . </P>
<P> Louis Pasteur 's 1859 experiment is widely seen as having settled the question of spontaneous generation . He boiled a meat broth in a flask that had a long neck that curved downward , like that of a goose or swan . The idea was that the bend in the neck prevented falling particles from reaching the broth , while still allowing the free flow of air . The flask remained free of growth for an extended period . When the flask was turned so that particles could fall down the bends , the broth quickly became clouded . However , minority objections were persistent and not always unreasonable , given that the experimental difficulties were far more challenging than the popular accounts suggest . The investigations of John Tyndall , a correspondent of Pasteur and a great admirer of Pasteur 's work , were decisive in disproving spontaneous generation with dealing with lingering issues . Still , even Tyndall encountered difficulties in dealing with the effects of microbial spores , which were not well understood in his day . Like Pasteur , he boiled his cultures to sterilize them , and some types of bacterial spores can survive boiling . The autoclave , which eventually came into universal application in medical practice and microbiology to sterilise equipment , was not an instrument that had come into use at the time of Tyndall 's experiments , let alone those of Pasteur . </P>
who is given credit for disproving spontaneous generation
who is given credit for disproving spontaneous generation
John Tyndall
John Tyndall