In the mid 1800 s, when Charles Darwin was proposing his theory of evolution, two other scientists were disproving a commonly held notion. At the time, many people believed in spontaneous generation .
Spontaneous generation is the belief that living things can arise from non-living material.
According to this view, worms, flies or even mice would simply spring forth from decaying meat, grain or other materials. Scientists of the day had no idea about the complexity of the molecules that make up even the tiniest living thing. Louis Pasteur and Rudolf Virchow showed the futility of spontaneous generation. The implication of their research was that only God could create life. Both of these Christian men of science were creationists.