FR1-Intro

Question 1

In his famous book Micrographia (1665), the

first book devoted to microscopic observation. Who wrote this book?

Answer 1

Robert Hooke (1635–1703)

Question 2

Who was the first person to see bacteria in 1676?

Answer 2

-The first person to see bacteria was the Dutch draper
and amateur microscope builder Antoni van Leeuwenhoek
(1632–1723)
- He discovered bacteria in 1676 while studying
pepper–water infusions
- Referred to them as animacules

Question 3

Which type of bacteria was Robert Cohn particularly interested in?
What do we now know about these bacteria?
What is the life cycle of these bacteria?

Answer 3

Cohn was particularly interested in heat resistance in bacteria, which led to his discovery
that some bacteria form endospores. We now know that bacterial
endospores are formed by differentiation from the mother (vegetative) cell (Figure 1.3) and that endospores are extremely heatresistant. Cohn described the life cycle of the endospore-forming
bacterium Bacillus (vegetative cell endospore vegetative
cell) and showed that vegetative cells but not endospores were
killed by boiling

Question 4

Other than endospore producing bacteria, what other type of bacteria did Ferdinand Cohn study?

Answer 4

the large sulfur

bacterium Beggiatoa

Question 5

What other accomplishments can Cohn be credited with?

Answer 5

-He laid
the groundwork for a system of bacterial classification including an early attempt to define a bacterial species, an issue still
unresolved today,
-founded a major scientific journal of
plant and microbial biology
-He strongly advocated use of the
techniques and research of Robert Koch, the first medical
microbiologist
- Cohn devised simple but effective methods for preventing the contamination of culture media, such as the use of cotton for closing flasks and tubes. These methods were later
used by Koch and allowed him to make rapid progress in the
isolation and characterization of several disease-causing bacteria