Louis pasteur

Author • Rodney E. Rohde Regents' Professor of Clinical Laboratory Science, Texas State University Disclosure statement Rodney E. Rohde has received funding from the American Society of Clinical Pathologists (ASCP), American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science (ASCLS), U.S. Department of Labor (OSHA), and other public and private entities/foundations. Rohde is affiliated with ASCP, ASCLS, ASM, and serves on several scientific advisory boards. See Partners Languages • • English An illustration of Louis Pasteur, right, supervising the administration of the rabies vaccine at the Pasteur Institute in Paris in 1886. First, a chemist In my assessment, Pasteur’s strongest contributions to science are his remarkable achievements in the field of medical microbiology and immunology. However, his story begins with chemistry. Pasteur studied under the In 1848, just months after receiving his doctorate degree, Pasteur was studying the properties of crystals formed in the process of wine-making when he discovered that These findings led Pasteur to suspect what would later be proved through molecular biology: All life processes ultimately stem from the precise arrangement of atoms within biological molecules. Wine and beer – from fermentation to germ theory Beer and wine were While many scientists tried to disprove the theory of spontaneous generation, in 1745, English biologist However, his experiment To settle the scientific battle, the French Academy of Sciences sponsored a contes...

In 1843 Pasteur was admitted to the École Normale Supérieure (a Molecular asymmetry Soon after graduating from the École Normale Supérieure, Pasteur became puzzled by the discovery of the German chemist Germ theory of fermentation In 1854 Pasteur was appointed professor of chemistry and dean of the science faculty at the In 1857 Pasteur left Lille and returned to Pasteur effect The realization that specific organisms were involved in fermentation was further supported by Pasteur’s studies of butyric acid fermentation. These studies led Pasteur to the unexpected discovery that the fermentation process could be arrested by passing air (that is, aerobic and anaerobic to Pasteur readily applied his knowledge of microbes and fermentation to the wine and beer industries in

Who: Louis Jean Pasteur What: Father of Modern Microbiology When: December 27, 1822 - September 28, 1895 Where: Arbois, France Little was known about preventative medicine and the causes of disease in the days of Louis Pasteur. Today, we owe all the discoveries in the fields of microbiology and immunology to his work. Pasteur came from a long line of peasants. Biographers Albert Keim and Louis Lumet wrote that Pasteur was a "rather slow" student and "gave no indication of brilliant qualities. He studied diligently, but without enthusiasm." 1 His father, however, wanted him to become a professor, so the young Pasteur applied himself to his studies and eventually gained admittance to the prestigious École Normale Supérieure, to which he returned in 1856 as director of scientific studies. Pasteur was a devout Catholic and was "regarded as conforming with the biblical account of the creation." 2 At the time, the concept of spontaneous generation was widely accepted, which maintained that life was generated by non-life (i.e., maggots appeared to arise out of exposed animal carcasses). Darwin used this theory, also known as abiogenesis, to propose that the first life forms miraculously grew out of a "warm little pond, with all sorts of ammonia and phosphoric salts, lights, heat, electricity, etc." 3 Pasteur conducted experiments comparing organic material that was exposed to air with organic material that was not. Nothing grew in the sealed or filtered vessels. This empirically ...

download Transcript Download Transcript Spontaneous generation Some people still believed in the harmful effects of miasma, or ‘bad air’, even in the 18th century. However, this theory was rapidly becoming less convincing. Instead, scientists developed the theory of spontaneous generation. Improved microscopes meant that scientists could see microbes. Scientists observed that microbes appeared on things that had started to rot and believed that they were the product of decay. The theory of spontaneous generation was that decaying matter, things that had started to rot, created microbes. The discovery of germs and pasteurisation Louis Pasteur was a French scientist who specialised in chemistry and microbiology. While working at a university in Lille, he spoke with a brewer, who wanted to know more about why the drinks he made sometimes went sour. Pasteur’s experiments brought greater understanding of the process of fermentation and how to prevent it. Prevention was achieved by heating the liquid to a certain temperature, which would kill bacteria in the liquid and thereby stop it from going bad. This process became known as pasteurisation. A swan neck flask, like the ones that Pasteur would have used Pasteur used microscopes and other instruments in his work. The swan neck flask helped him to understand more about the role of bacteria - a type of microbe - in fermentation. When air entered the long neck, tiny particles (bacteria) were trapped in the long tube. If they could...

Louis Pasteur, (born Dec. 27, 1822, Dole, France—died Sept. 28, 1895, Saint-Cloud, near Paris), French chemist and microbiologist. Early in his career, after studies at the École Normale Supérieure, he researched the effects of polarized light on chemical compounds. In 1857 he became director of scientific studies at the École. His studies of fermentation of alcohol and milk (souring) showed that yeast could reproduce without free oxygen (the Pasteur effect); he deduced that fermentation and food spoilage were due to the activity of microorganisms and could be prevented by excluding or destroying them. His work overturned the concept of spontaneous generation (life arising from nonliving matter) and led to heat pasteurization, allowing vinegar, wine, and beer to be produced and transported without spoiling. He saved the French silk industry by his work on silkworm diseases. In 1881 he perfected a way to isolate and weaken germs, and he went on to develop Related Article Summaries