What does biogenesis mean?
Biogenesis is the scientific principle that living organisms arise only from other living organisms — that life is produced by life, never generated spontaneously from inanimate matter. The term gained prominence in the nineteenth century, when scientists such as Louis Pasteur conducted careful experiments showing that microorganisms appear in sterile broth only when it is exposed to airborne microbes, thereby demolishing the long-held doctrine of spontaneous generation, which had claimed that creatures like maggots could emerge directly from decaying meat. Today biogenesis underlies one of biology's most fundamental tenets: every cell descends from a pre-existing cell through division. Beyond this core sense, biogenesis can also refer broadly to the production and development of living matter, as in the growth of new tissue. The word appears chiefly in scientific, educational, and historical writing, where its counterpart abiogenesis marks the still-open question of how life first began on Earth.
nounThe principle that living organisms arise only from other living organisms, rather than spontaneously from nonliving matter; more broadly, the origin and development of life or of living tissue.
- Biology: the principle that living organisms are produced only by other living organisms (life begets life).
- The origin, development, and growth of living matter generally.
"Pasteur's swan-neck flask experiments provided decisive evidence for biogenesis, disproving the old doctrine of spontaneous generation."
"The principle of biogenesis states that a cell comes only from the division of a pre-existing cell."
"Nineteenth-century debates over biogenesis transformed microbiology and laid the groundwork for modern germ theory."
Very rarely pluralized; the plural appears mainly in theoretical discussions positing multiple independent origins of life.
"Some astrobiologists entertain the possibility of multiple biogeneses on early Earth."
For centuries people believed maggots sprang from rotting meat and mice from dirty shirts — until Pasteur's elegant flasks proved that every living thing comes only from another living thing.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of biogenesis
Biogenesis combines the Greek roots bios, meaning 'life', with genesis, meaning 'origin' or 'birth'. The term was coined in the nineteenth century amid the great biological debates over the origin of living things, serving as the counterpoint to abiogenesis and spontaneous generation. Its Greek components also gave English many related words, including genesis itself, genetic, biology, and biosphere.
How biogenesis is actually used
A formal, scientific term used mainly in biology, history of science, and philosophy-of-science writing; rare in everyday conversation. It carries no emotional connotation and is almost always encountered in academic contexts.
Easily confused with biogenesis
Biogenesis holds that life comes from pre-existing life, whereas abiogenesis is the hypothesis that life can arise from nonliving matter.
Spontaneous generation is the discredited belief that living things arise directly from nonliving material — the exact opposite of biogenesis.