What prize did Pasteur win in 1862 for his refutation of spontaneous generation?

The prize Pasteur won in 1862 for refuting spontaneous generation was the Alhumbert Prize.

The French Academy of Sciences created the competition to encourage carefully controlled experiments on whether life could arise from nonliving matter. Pasteur’s investigations showed that microorganisms appeared in nutrient broth only when contamination from air or dust was allowed, not because life spontaneously formed in the broth.

His famous swan-neck flask experiments were central to the argument. The curved flask neck allowed air to enter while trapping dust particles and microbes, keeping boiled broth sterile. Pasteur’s work helped establish the modern principle of biogenesis and strengthened germ theory.

The other options are Pasteur-related but mismatched: the Academy awarded him the Jecker Prize in 1861, while the Copley Medal came from the Royal Society in 1874 and recognized his fermentation research. The Montyon Prize was awarded earlier for experimental physiology.