Which of the following individuals argued in favor of the theory of spontaneous generation? Select an answer and submit. For keyboard navigation, use the up/down arrow keys to select an answer. \begin{tabular}{|l|l}\hline a & Francesco Redi \\ \hline b & Louis Pasteur \\ \hline c & John Needham \\ \hline d & \\ \hline d & Lazzaro Spallanzani \\ \hline\end{tabular}

In the grand debate over spontaneous generation, John Needham stood out as a proponent. He conducted experiments in the mid-18th century that seemed to provide evidence for the idea that life could arise from non-living matter, notably in broths that he claimed supported microbial life after boiling. However, Needham's findings sparked further experiments that challenged his conclusions. Notably, Francesco Redi famously debunked spontaneous generation for larger organisms by showing that maggots only appeared on meat when flies could reach it, igniting a scientific revolution that ultimately led to the germ theory and a better understanding of biogenesis.