Louis Pasteur is often referred to as the “Father of Microbiology” (along with scientist Robert Koch) for his contributions to discerning the cause and prevention of disease. He is best known for inventing the process of pasteurization, creating the first vaccine for rabies, and the germ theory of disease.

Most people in Louis Pasteur’s day believed that microorganisms spontaneously generated; that is, they simply appeared. Through a series of experiments, Pasteur was able to prove that disease was caused by microorganisms, and that these microorganisms did not spontaneously generate, but were carried from somewhere else. This was an important theory, and became the basis for everything we do today to prevent disease. Pasteur, for example, encouraged doctors to wash their hands and clean their equipment before surgery. He was directly responsible for decreasing rates of death from puerperal fever (infection after childbirth).

In 1885, Pasteur administered the first rabies vaccine to a human, a nine-year-old boy who had been mauled by a rabid dog. Although Pasteur was a scientist, he was not a medical doctor, and he administered the rabies vaccine to the boy at great personal risk. The boy survived and the rabies vaccine laid the groundwork for many other vaccines.

The process of pasteurization obviously was named for Pasteur, who invented the process after observing that milk and other liquids would sour after a period of time. He discovered that the liquids soured because of the fermentation process which occurred due to the bacteria already present in the liquids. He developed a method of heating and then cooling liquids so as to kill most of the bacteria present in the liquid. The method invented by Pasteur is still in use today.

Pasteur’s remarkable contributions to science still greatly impact our lives today. The next time you pour a glass of milk or wash your hands, think of Louis Pasteur, the Father of Microbiology.

Related Links:

Louis Pasteur (1822-1895) from the BBC

Louis Pasteur