Louis Pasteur

Louis Pasteur was a significant individual in the history of health. His experiments led to the understanding of germs. This development made it possible to limit the spread of diseases more effectively. Competition between his French laboratory and that of the Prussian scientist, Robert Koch, led to high investment and the causes of a series of diseases being identified. Identification of these causes led to vaccination programmes for many infectious diseases, including Cholera, Anthrax and Rabies. 

Louis Pasteur was a French Scientist. He was not a doctor, or even a medical scientist. He became known throughout the world of medicine through research he was conducting on behalf of a brewing company, who were concerned about the lifespan of their beers. Pasteur believed that germs in the air may be the cause of the beer ‘going off’. This was an unusual theory as, at the time, people believed that germs were a product of disease and decay, rather than a cause of it.

Pasteur experimented with the fermentation process and soon realised that the germs were being created during the process. He proved this through experimentation. He warmed water and allowed it to bubble into the bend of a connecting pipe. After cooling the pipe was broken and decay set into the water very quickly. Many doctors were still sceptical however. By 1867 though, Pasteur was able to demonstrate unequivocally that there was a link between germs, decay and disease.

Pasteur’s discoveries led him to work more and more in the field of medical science and he later discovered a vaccine for Cholera, Anthrax and Rabies.

Worksheet: The Fight against Infectious Disease

Schoolshistory home – History teachers resources – Medical History Timelines  – Alexander Fleming – Florey and Chain develop Penicillin – Gerhard Domagk and Prontosil – Edward Jenner and the Smallpox Vaccine – Louis Pasteur and Germ Theory – Robert Koch – The development of Vaccinations – Was Penicillin an accident? – Paul Ehrlich and the Magic Bullet

Medicine Through time – Resources for Medicine Through Time – Prehistoric Medicine – Ancient Egyptian Medicine – Ancient Greek Medicine – Medicine in the Roman Empire – Medieval Medicine – Renaissance Medicine – Public Health in the Industrial Revolution – Fight against infectious disease – Modern Medicine