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'''Abiogenesis''' refers either to the "now discredited theory that living organisms can arise spontaneously from inanimate matter",<ref>[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/abiogenesis Dictionary.com: Abiogenesis]</ref> also known as [[spontaneous generation]] or the theory that, about 3.5 billion years ago, at least one self-reproducing organism ''did'' arise from nonliving matter.

'''Abiogenesis''', also known as [[spontaneous generation]], in its 19^th century meaning, referred to the "now discredited theory that living organisms can arise spontaneously from inanimate matter",<ref>[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/abiogenesis Dictionary.com: Abiogenesis]</ref>.  At that time, there was much speculation on just how living things can come into existence. The experiments of Louis Pasteur helped improve the understanding of the subject.

Most [[evolutionists]] believe that an event of abiogenesis was the origin of life on [[Earth]]. No process by which organisms, even incredibly simple ones, can be created from non-living matter is currently known or has been observed.

In the modern sense of the word, it refers to whatever transition is presumed to have occurred between a universe with no living things (it is generally accepted that living things were not present in the original quark-gluon plasma of the [[big bang]]), and the present universe.

 

Most scientists believe that an event of abiogenesis, about 3.5 billion years ago, was the origin of life on [[Earth]]. How this could have happened is not yet understood; it is  matter of intense inquiry and speculation.  No process by which organisms, even incredibly simple ones, can be created from non-living matter has been observed, in the wild or in the laboratory.

==Historical Background==

==Historical Background==