Final answer:
Francesco Redi and Louis Pasteur are the two scientists responsible for disproving the theory of spontaneous generation, with Redi's experiments involving meat and maggots and Pasteur's swan-neck flask experiments using broth.
Step-by-step explanation:
The two scientists who helped to disprove the idea of spontaneous generation were Francesco Redi and Louis Pasteur. Redi's experiment in the 17th century showed that flies needed to have access to meat for maggots to develop, challenging the notion that maggots appeared spontaneously. Louis Pasteur later conducted his famous swan-neck flask experiments with broth, which conclusively refuted spontaneous generation by demonstrating that microorganisms from the air were responsible for contamination, not an inherent 'life force' in the broth.
Louis Pasteur is the individual credited for definitively refuting the theory of spontaneous generation using broth in swan-neck flasks. His meticulous approach to sterilization and isolation of variables in his experiments showcased that sterile broth remained free of life unless exposed to airborne microorganisms. Pasteur's work earned him the Alhumbert Prize from the Paris Academy of Sciences and was a pivotal moment in microbiology and the understanding of life generation.
Francesco Redi, through his experiments with raw meat, maggots, and flies, was the scientist who first experimented in an attempt to disprove the theory of spontaneous generation. By using meat in open and closed containers, he demonstrated that maggots came from flies rather than spontaneously generating from the meat itself, helping to refute earlier beliefs.