The transition from believing in spontaneous generation to accepting biogeny was driven by landmark experiments:
: This theory maintains that life on Earth has been a continuous chain of biological descent since its first emergence. Historical Development
: As Rudolf Virchow famously stated, "Omnis cellula e cellula" (all cells come from pre-existing cells), asserting that living tissue cannot arise from non-living chemicals.
(also known as biogenesis) is the biological principle that living organisms can only be produced from other living organisms. It stands in direct opposition to the obsolete theory of spontaneous generation (abiogenesis), which proposed that life could arise from non-living matter. Core Principles