abiogenesis

abiogenesis \ey-bahy-oh-JEN-uh-sis, ab-ee-oh-\, noun:

Biology. the now discredited theory that living organisms can arise spontaneously from inanimate matter; spontaneous generation.

"Aristotle would have loved that." Nancy was standing behind him. "Why Aristotle?" she asked. "He believed in abiogenesis, the idea that living creatures can arise from nonliving matter."
-- Tom Clancy, Games of State, 1996

Oberth, who accurately predicted rocket development on earth, suspects that the prerequisites for abiogenesis exist on other planets in the solar system.
-- Erich von Daniken, translated by Michael Heron, Chariots of the Gods? Unsolved Mysteries of the Past, 1968

Coined by T. H. Huxley in 1870, abiogenesis comes from the Latin words meaning "birth" and "origin."