genetics and heredity
In the two millennia between the lives of Aristotle and Mendel, few new ideas were recorded on the nature of heredity. In the 17th and 18th centuries the idea of preformation was introduced.
Who discovered preformation theory?
This theory was developed during the time of von Baer, by the German physiologist Theodor Schwann (1810–82) and the German botanist Matthias Jacob Schleiden (1804–81). They are both credited for formulating the cell theory, which believed that all living organisms are composed of cells.
What is the preformation theory in biology?
Preformationism was a theory of embryological development used in the late seventeenth through the late eighteenth centuries. This theory held that the generation of offspring occurs as a result of an unfolding and growth of preformed parts.
