Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
The French Louis Pasteur (1822–1895) and German Robert Koch (1843–1910) are the two greatest figures in medical microbiology and in establishing acceptance of the germ theory of disease (germ theory). [1] In 1882, fueled by national rivalry and a language barrier, the tension between Pasteur and the younger Koch erupted into an acute ...
Louis Pasteur's contemporary Robert Koch devoted much of his scientific study to discovering certain pathogens and connecting them to specific diseases. These scientists were often in competition with one another and so the Koch-Pasteur rivalry is a well-known part of germ theory's history.
Heinrich Hermann Robert Koch (/ k ɒ x / KOKH; [1] [2] German: [ˈʁoːbɛʁt ˈkɔx] ⓘ; 11 December 1843 – 27 May 1910) was a German physician and microbiologist.As the discoverer of the specific causative agents of deadly infectious diseases including tuberculosis, cholera and anthrax, he is regarded as one of the main founders of modern bacteriology.
Koch's postulates (/ k ɒ x / KOKH) [2] are four criteria designed to establish a causal relationship between a microbe and a disease. The postulates were formulated by Robert Koch and Friedrich Loeffler in 1884, based on earlier concepts described by Jakob Henle , and the statements were refined and published by Koch in 1890. [ 3 ]
Louis Pasteur's 1859 experiment is widely seen as having settled the question of spontaneous generation. [47] He boiled a meat broth in a swan neck flask; the bend in the neck of the flask prevented falling particles from reaching the broth, while still allowing the free flow of air. The flask remained free of growth for an extended period.
In Pasteur's day, and for many years after his death, the word "virus" was used to describe any cause of infectious disease. Many bacteriologists soon discovered the cause of numerous infections. However, some infections remained, many of them horrendous, for which no bacterial cause could be found.
His experiments confirmed the germ theory of disease, and he created the first vaccine for rabies. He became one of the main founders of bacteriology , the other major figure being Robert Koch . Pasteur also discovered anaerobiosis , whereby some microorganisms can develop and live without air or oxygen .
One of the chemical processes that Pasteur studied was the fermentation of sugar into lactic acid, as occurs in the souring of milk. In an 1857 experiment, Pasteur was able to isolate microorganisms present in lactic acid ferment after the chemical process had taken place. [9] Pasteur then cultivated the microorganisms in a culture with his ...