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Louis Pasteur: Diseases
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Louis Pasteur Louis Pasteur (December 27, 1822 – September 28, 1895) was a French chemist best known for his remarkable breakthroughs in microbiology. His experiments confirmed the germ theory of disease... reducing mortality from puerperal fever (childbed), and he created the first vaccine for rabies. He is best known to the general public for showing how to stop milk and wine from going sour - this process came to be called pasteurization. He is regarded as one of the three main founders of bacteriology, together with Ferdinand Cohn and Robert Koch. He also made many discoveries in the field of chemistry, most notably the asymmetry of crystals.
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.
French microbiologist Louis Pasteur investigated why fermentation in wine vats produced lactic acid, thereby making the wine go sour. Pasteur concluded (1863) that the fermentation was caused by bacteria in the air. Pasteur's explanation challenged traditional notions of spontaneous generation and lent weight to the germ theory of disease. Pasteur's discovery opened the way to Josoph Lister's revolution in aseptic and antiseptic surgery. In 1879, Pasteur identified the streptococcus bacterium as the cause of puerperal sepsis.
Louis Pasteur was called on to help another group of French farmers when the silk industry faced a crisis due to diseased eggs. He showed the farmers how they could use a microscope to detect the diseased eggs. These eggs were then destroyed and the disease eliminated in the silkworm nurseries. Pasteur received grateful thanks from those whose livelihoods he had saved.
Louis Pasteur is often regarded as one of the founders of microbiology, and is chiefly famous for his discovery of the role that microorganisms play in health and disease. However, he was trained as a physical scientist, and his research began with the discovery of the stereoisomerism of the different forms of tartaric acid. As a biotechnologist, he is remembered for his studies on the nature of fermentation, and for his rebuttal of the theory of spontaneous generation.
Louis Pasteur’s personal life had been punctuated by sickness and tragedy. Three of his five children died of childhood diseases. Also he had been brought up with a sister left mentally retarded by a childhood disease. Rather than crush his spirit, these tragedies spurred him on in his efforts to spare others the heartbreak of losing their children to disease. His own life was touched by a brain hemorrhage and several strokes which left him partially paralysed. His condition was often made worse by overwork.
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