How Did Louis Pasteur Contribute To Microbiology

The three scientists I have selected are Antony Leeuwenhoek, Louis Pasteur, and David Bruce. Leeuwenhoek, renowned as the world’s first microbe hunter, was an exceptionally determined man. He would always be seen fumbling with his trusty, hand-held lenses, which deemed him as deranged by his neighbors. Many would be discouraged by the amount of criticism he received, but not Leeuwenhoek. It intrigues me how his stubbornness has allowed us to make numerous scientific advancements and helped shape what we are today. Pasteur’s contribution in microbiology has truly impacted our life styles. His breakthrough is quite a captivating topic, a topic that most children would fear, vaccines. Although it isn’t pleasurable to take your yearly shots, vaccines

Pasteur introduced the medical world to the concept of viruses. He theorized doctors carried deadly microbes from sick women to healthy ones, which the book does not explain in depth. However, he is more notably recognized for discovering that weak forms of disease could be used as an immunization against stronger forms and that rabies was transmitted by viruses too small to be seen under the microscopes of the time. Pasteur had isolated anthrax and grew it in its pure state only to inject it into myriads of chickens. However, one day, he had the idea to shoot some old cultivation into a few chickens out of curiosity, and miraculously, they recovered! He then, shot a murderous dose of germs into the breast muscle of the chickens – into the new ones, and into the ones that had got better. Pasteur and his assistants were flabbergasted at the results. The new birds that were shot, all dead, however, the ones that previously recovered resisted the virus. “All we have to do is let our virulent microbes grow old in their bottles… instead of planting new ones every day…. When the microbes age, they get tame… they give the chicken the disease… but only a little of it… and when she gets better she can stand all the virulent microbes in the world… We will save lives…!” Later on, he attempted to use this method for rabies. However, the microbe was too tiny, even for the strongest microscope – surely there was no way to grow it in flasks. Pasteur proved the impossible and came up with the brilliant idea to keep the microbes alive… in the brains of rabbits. Here started the feat of science of struggling by Pasteur, with a microbe he couldn’t see – a weird bug whose existence was only known by its invisible growth in the living brains and spinal cords of an endless succession of rabbits. After countless experiments, they had found a way of weakening the savage virus by taking out a little section of the spinal cord of a rabbit dead of