LOUIS PASTEUR Few figures dominated 19th century science as Louis Pasteur did. Pasteur (1822-1895) developed key understandings in chemistry, biology, and medicine. A chemist, he showed the asymmetric nature of certain crystals. From his work on crystallography, he moved on to the chemistry of fermentation, and demonstrated that fermentation is a chemical process carried out by tiny organisms. His findings in fermentation led him to debunk the myth of spontaneous generation and to propose methods for preventing the growth of bacteria in food items. Pasteur was the first scientist to artificially attenuate viruses for use in vaccines. He created several veterinary vaccines before his development of the rabies vaccine in 1885 for use in humans. He is renowned for his discoveries of the principles of vaccination, microbial fermentation and pasteurization. He is remembered for his remarkable breakthroughs in the causes and preventions of diseases, and his discoveries have saved countless lives ever since. He reduced mortality from puerperal fever, and created the first vaccines for rabies and anthrax. Louis Pasteur produced the first laboratory-developed vaccine: the vaccine for chicken cholera (Pasteurella multocida). His medical discoveries provided direct support for the germ theory of disease and its application in clinical medicine. He is best known to the general public for his invention of the technique of treating milk and wine to stop bacterial contamination, a process now called pasteurization. He is regarded as one of the three main founders of bacteriology, together with Ferdinand Cohn and Robert Koch, and is popularly known as the father of microbiology. Today, Pasteur plays the role of national hero in France, and the Pasteur Institutes he founded continue to develop breakthroughs in the prevention and treatment of infectious disease. History of Vaccines. Wikipedia
Posted on: Sat, 24 Jan 2015 23:18:39 +0000
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