{"id":3773,"date":"2018-06-30T09:32:38","date_gmt":"2018-06-30T09:32:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/schoolshistory.org.uk\/topics\/?page_id=3773"},"modified":"2026-04-27T10:50:52","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T10:50:52","slug":"louis-pasteur","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/schoolshistory.org.uk\/topics\/medicine-through-time\/fight-against-infectious-disease\/louis-pasteur\/","title":{"rendered":"Louis Pasteur"},"content":{"rendered":"

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.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Louis<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Public Health in the Industrial Revolution<\/a><\/h4>\n

Impact of new machines<\/a> – Workhouses in Bradford and Leeds<\/a> – Typhoid outbreaks 1830 – 1836<\/a> – Cholera, 1831 Outbreak<\/a> – Poor Law Commission [1834, Report 1837]<\/a> – Poor Law Commission 1835<\/a> – Bradford Woolcombers Report, 1837<\/a> – Report on the conditions of workers in Leeds, 1842<\/a> – Report on the sanitary Condition of the Labouring Classes, Chadwick 1842<\/a> – Health of Towns Association, 1844<\/a> – Health in Bradford in the mid 1840’s<\/a> – Health in Manchester, 1844<\/a> – Public Health Act, 1848<\/a> – Working Conditions in Bradford, 1850<\/a> – Census figures: UK Population statistics 1831 – 1851<\/a> – John Snow’s work on Cholera, 1854<\/a> – Nightingale School of Nursing<\/a> – Bradford Sewage Works, 1862<\/a> – Louis Pasteur: Germ Theory, 1865<\/a> – Second Reform Act [External]<\/a> – Royal Sanitary Commission, 1869<\/a> – The Public Health Act, 1872 [External]<\/a> – Public Health Act, 1875 [External]<\/a> – Artizans and Labourers’ Dwellings Improvement Act, 1875 [External]<\/a> – Tuberculosis Germ identified by Robert Koch, 1882<\/a> – Cholera Germ identified, 1883<\/a> – Health in Bradford, Margaret McMillan’s Report, 1890<\/a> – Report into the health of Children in Bradford, 1907<\/a> –\u00a0Timeline of Public Health over time<\/a> –\u00a0Medicine and Treatments c1350-2018<\/a> –\u00a0Themes in Medical History<\/a><\/p>\n

Medicine Through time<\/a><\/h4>\n

Resources for Medicine Through Time<\/a> –\u00a0Prehistoric Medicine<\/a> –\u00a0Ancient Egyptian Medicine<\/a> –\u00a0Ancient Greek Medicine<\/a> –\u00a0Medicine in the Roman Empire<\/a> –\u00a0Medieval Medicine<\/a> –\u00a0Renaissance Medicine<\/a> –\u00a0Public Health in the Industrial Revolution<\/a> –\u00a0Fight against infectious disease<\/a> –\u00a0Modern Medicine<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3946,"parent":3759,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"off","neve_meta_content_width":100,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3773","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t