1713-1781

English Naturalist

The English naturalist John Needham conducted a series of experiments that seemed to provide proof of spontaneous generation—the sudden appearance of organisms from nonliving materials. His work spurred that of Italian scientist Lazzaro Spallanzani (1729-1799), who conducted similar experiments, but had opposite results.

Needham was born in London in 1713. He left England in order to receive the education required for the Roman Catholic priesthood, which he completed in 1738. (Such schooling would have been difficult to obtain in England, which was under Protestant rule after a period of religious turmoil.) Rather than serve as a priest, however, Needham spent much of his life as a tutor to young English Catholics as they toured the European continent.

Needham had read about recent discoveries that had been made with microscopes, including the discovery of "animalcules" (which are now called microorganisms). He became fascinated...