Louis Pasteur's Battle with Microbes and the Founding of Microbiology
Overview
In 1800 the origins of infectious diseases were unknown and as mysterious as they had been in the Middle Ages. By 1900 the causes of many of these diseases that ravaged humans throughout history had been discovered, and methods such as vaccination and improved sanitation were being developed to deal with them. The main figure in this achievement was Louis Pasteur (1822-1895), a French scientist who first demonstrated the crucial role microbes (microscopic organisms) play in the life process. He established the germ theory of disease and was the first to show that vaccines against infectious diseases can be manufactured. Vaccinations against viral diseases, antibiotics, infection-free surgery, safe milk and food, effective sanitation systems: all these developments owe much to Pasteur, the founder of modern microbiology (the study of unicellular microorganisms and their activities).
Background
In the early nineteenth century science and medicine seemed no farther advanced than they had been half a millennium earlier. Aristotle's concept that many plants and small animals were spontaneously generated from soil or decaying animal matter still influenced scientists. In medicine many still believed that human health was determined by internal "humors" that could be treated by drawing off the patient's blood.
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