Francesco Redi

Do you think rotten meat can magically turn into wriggling maggots? Francesco Redi, a curious doctor from the 1600s, proved it doesn't — and he did it with a clear, clever experiment.

Francesco Redi (1626–1697) was an Italian physician and naturalist in the 17th century. His most famous achievement was showing that maggots come from fly eggs, not from meat itself. This challenged the long-held idea of spontaneous generation.

Redi put meat into three kinds of jars: open jars, tightly sealed jars, and jars covered with fine gauze. Flies could enter the open jars and left eggs that hatched into maggots. Sealed jars stayed maggot-free. Gauze kept flies away; no maggots formed on the meat. That proved maggots begin as eggs laid by flies.

Redi's work was revolutionary because he used controls and careful observation — the basic tools of modern experiments. By testing ideas instead of guessing, he helped start experimental biology. Later scientists built on his approach to study germs and life more deeply.

Remember Francesco Redi as the scientist who turned a curious question into a clear test. His smart jars taught the world to check ideas with experiments, and that lesson helps scientists and curious kids today.