"Omne vivum ex ovo" is Latin for "All live [is] from [an] egg". This is a foundational concept of modern biology. Up into the 19th century it was commonly believed that life forms can appear spontaneosly under certain conditions; for example, that maggots would spontaneously appear in rotten flesh, or that algae would spontaneously form in water, or that eel were generated when horse hairs fell into streams. Only with knowledge of modern cell biology was it established that all currently living organisms are descendants of one or more very similar parent organisms.
This of course says nothing about the question of the origin of life on Earth (or anywhere else in the Universe for that matter), it only speaks about current conditions.
In the late 17th century, an Italian scientist, Francesco Redi, proved that maggots did not grow in meat where flies were prevented from laying their eggs there.
The belief that omnevivumexovo is most closely associated with William Harvey, the 17th-century English doctor who explained the circulation of blood in the body.
I'm excited about the way learning Latin proverbs can be a way to promote general cultural literacy - and this time, the Latin saying provides a bit of scientific literacy, too!
Up into the 19th century, it was commonly believed that life forms could appear spontaneously under certain conditions (see abiogenesis).
This misconception was challenged by William Harvey's diction that "all life [is] from [an] egg" (from the Latin"Omnevivumexovo"), a foundational concept of modern biology.
Omnevivumexovo - In vivo - In vitro - In utero - In silico
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