Pasteur’s contribution to medical science cannot be overstated. At the turn of the 20th century, the life expectancy in the United States was forty-nine years, and the three leading causes of death were all infectious diseases—influenza/pneumonia, tuberculosis, and diarrheal infection. Pasteur’s groundbreaking research led to the creation of vaccine therapy, preventing millions of deaths. His techniques and influence led directly to the development of powerful antimicrobial therapies such that in 2008 life expectancy was seventy-eight years, and infectious disease was no longer even in the top five causes of death. Pasteur is one of the few scientists who have the distinction of inaugurating an entire field of study—in Pasteur’s case, microbiology and immunology—and his work led the way in vanquishing many microbial diseases. In a lecture at Yale, the great physician William Osler gave voice to Pasteur’s greatness: At the middle of the last century we did not know much more of the actual causes of the great scourges of the race, the plagues, the fevers and the pestilences, than did the Greeks. Here comes Pasteur’s great work. Before him Egyptian darkness; with his advent a light that brightens more and more as the years give us ever fuller knowledge. Ranging from knowledge of crystalline forms to vaccines, Pasteur’s achievements may at first glance appear to be disparate and random, yet nothing could be further from the truth. To the contrary, Pasteur was a master integrator, seeing the connections between wide-ranging phenomena: chemical crystals and molecular asymmetry; molecular asymmetry and microorganisms; microorganisms and disease; disease and immunity. Today the academic Pasteur—with his characteristic skullcap, beard, and pince-nez—may seem too professorial for the role of crusading hero. But, in this case, looks are deceiving. In his day, his fire and courage were manifest to all who saw him, as reported by a journalist describing a 59-year-old Pasteur on his election to the Académie francaise: “The most striking thing about him is the characteristic energy. His features are strongly marked, his eyes are lively, his body robust. His masculine and clipped speech reveals a man for whom there is no such thing as obstacles or fatigue.” In his speech at Yale, Osler emphasized that Pasteur left us not only with increased knowledge, but with an ideal we can look up to. “The story of Pasteur’s life,” he said, “should be read by every student. It is one of the glories of human literature, and, as a record of achievement and of nobility of character, is almost without equal.” Indeed, Pasteur—through his heroic life and world-changing, life-saving discoveries—is a supreme inspiration. To any who aspire to moral greatness in their own lives, Pasteur’s story is a guiding light—a light that brightens more and more. —Ross England Full article via subscription or pdf: theobjectivestandard/issues/2013-winter/louis-pasteur-a-light-that-brightens/
Posted on: Tue, 19 Aug 2014 19:49:25 +0000
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