[BIOLOGY in 2 minutes] Pasteur's experiment ~Purpose and History~

Welcome to 2 minutes bio. In this video, we'll discuss the background of Pasteur's experiment. Today, we all know that the generation of new life requires pre-existing life. However, until the 17th century, it was strongly believed that lives can be formed without parental organisms. This theory is called spontaneous generation of life. Spontaneous generation was first proposed by Aristotle in 400 BC at ancient Greece. This theory was supported until renaissance. However, starting with the experiment by Francisco Redi and Lazaro Cipollanzani, the experimental verification to deny this theory has begun. Francisco Redi introduced the notion of contrast experiment, which is the foundation of today's science. He put two dead fish in separate containers and sealed one of them after covering with fabric and left another open. As a result, maggots emerged from the open container, which was allowed to contact with flies, but not from the sealed container, which was covered with the fabric. Although this experiment only showed that maggots can emerge if they don't contact with fish, it opened scientists the door to falsify spontaneous generation. Lazaro Cipollanzani boiled soups in two different containers and sealed one of them to avoid involvement with outside and left another open to the air. As a result, nothing had emerged from the sealed container, but bacteria colony emerged from the open container. However, due to the opposition based on the hypothesis oxygen is required to the formation of new life, this experiment couldn't achieve the falsification of spontaneous generation. Pasteur's experiment refuted those arguments. He devised the method to allow air exchange while preventing the entrance of microorganisms. As a result, he came up with the swan neck flask. After this experiment, spontaneous generation was considered to be falsified. The detailed procedure will be explained in the next video.