Abiogenesis is the development of living organisms from non-living precursors. The term was first applied by Thomas Huxley and comes from the Greek a "without" and bios "life." Gradual abiogenesis by chemical and biochemical evolution on the surface of the young Earth is the standard model of how terrestrial life arose (see life, origin), although evidence is accumulating that at least some of the early stages of abiogenesis may have taken place in space. According to a more extreme view, dense clouds of gas and dust in space may serve as the actual birthplace of primitive organisms (see life, in space). By contrast, some advocates of the panspermia hypothesis have maintained that there are no compelling reasons to believe that life originally came from non-living matter.

 

The old theory of instantaneous abiogenesis, known as spontaneous generation, was discredited over a period of two centuries by the experimental work of Redi, Spallanzani, de LaTour, Schwann, Pasteur, and Tyndall.

Abiotic

Abiotic means non-biological in origin; devoid of life; inanimate. It is said especially of environments or environmental factors.

 

Abiotic factors are non-living factors, beneficial or otherwise, that exist in the environment of living things. They include, for example, the atmosphere, climate, geology, ambient temperatures, and light levels of the surroundings.