Francesco Redi

Redi is featured in many modern-day science textbooks due to his experiment.

Francesco Redi (February 18/19, 1626 – March 1, 1697) was a physician born in Arezzo, Italy. He is most well-known for his experiment in 1668 which is regarded as a one of the first steps in refuting abiogenesis. At the time, prevailing wisdom was that maggots formed naturally from rotting meat. In the experiment, Redi covered a piece of meat with a net that prevented flies from reaching it. When maggots did not appear on the meat, it was a sign that abiogenesis was wrong.

Redi was also a poet, his best known work being Bacchus in Tuscany.

A crater on Mars was named in his honor.