basis for the germ theory of disease, and also developed the technique of Pasteurization. He showed that the disease of silkworms known as pebrine was caused by protozoa. Pasteur was unable to show microorganisms caused human disease. Gerbhard Hansen of Norway identified bacteria in leprosy patients, and bacteria were seen in the blood of relapsing fever patients. In England, Joseph Lister was impressed with PasteurÆs work and began using antiseptics in wound infections.
Robert Koch developed a set of KochÆs Postulates to be used for relating specific microorganisms to specific diseases in 1876. He identified the bacilli which caused anthrax in sheep. Koch also developed methods for culturing microorganisms. Koch, a doctor, and Pasteur, a chemist, were rivals, working in the same field, with the same goals. In 1881, Koch announced the development of a pure culture technique, and in 1882, he isolated the bacillus which causes tuberculosis. Koch also developed staining techniques for examining bacteria under the microscope. Pasteur developed vaccination techniques, and developed a vaccine for rabies.
In 1884, Georg Gaffky cultured the typhoid bacillus, and Friederich Loeftler isolated the diphtheria bacillus. Emile Roux and Alexandre Yersin, working with Pasteur, showed that diphtheria was linked to a toxin produced in the human body, and this led a member of KochÆs team, Emil von Behring, to develop an antitoxin which could be used to immunize against the disease, earning Behring the first Nobel Prize in physiology or Medicine. Shibasaburo, of Japan, working in KochÆs laboratory, cultivated the tetanus bacillus, which grows only in the absence of oxygen. In PasteurÆs laboratory, Elie Metchnikoff demonstrated the process of phagocytosis in which white blood cells destroy microorganisms.
In 1878, Ernst Karl Abbe developed the oil-immersion lens for the microscope, and in 1886 developed a system of lenses and m...