redi

Francesco Redi (1626–1697) was an Italian physician, biologist, and experimentalist from Arezzo, Tuscany. He is widely regarded as a pioneer of modern experimental biology for his rigorous investigations into the origin of life and his demonstrations that life does not arise spontaneously in decaying matter.

Redi is best known for his experiments on spontaneous generation, published in 1668 as Esperienze intorno alla generazione degl'insetti (Experiments on the Generation of Insects). In his setup, meat was placed in three jars: one left open, one sealed, and one covered with gauze. The open jar developed maggots, the sealed jar produced none, and the gauze-covered jar allowed flies to settle on the gauze but prevented them from laying eggs on the meat. From this, Redi concluded that maggots originate from eggs laid by living flies rather than emerging spontaneously from meat, providing strong empirical support for biogenesis and challenging prevailing theory.

Beyond his insect-generation work, Redi contributed to early natural history and parasitology by applying careful observation and experimentation to the study of life cycles and diseases in animals and humans. His insistence on experimental method and evidence influenced later scientists, including Lazzaro Spallanzani and Louis Pasteur, and helped establish a more empirical approach to biology that shaped the development of the scientific method.