History of Microbiology Flashcards
What century did the field of microbiology emerge?
1600s
Who discovered the compound light microscope and in what year?
Zacharias Jansen in 1590s
What did Robert Hooke bring to the field of microbiology and in what years?
1664 - Hooke was the first person to describe microorganisms, he observed mold growing on leather
1665 - Hooke first described cells he observed while looked at magnified cork
What did Robert Hooke’s findings lead to the development of:
The cell theory
Who was the first to describe “animalcules”?
Anton van Leeuwenhoek
Who originally proposed the theory of spontaneous generation?
Aristotle
Who set out to disprove spontaneous generation with the decaying meat experiment?
Francesco Redi
Who fueled the debate of spontaneous generation with the flask & broth experiment?
John Needham
Who tried to prove Needham wrong by sealing the flasks?
Lazzaro Spallanzani
Who challenged spontaneous generation with the idea of biogenesis?
Rudolf Virchow
What is biogenesis?
All living cells can arise only from preexisting living cells
Who disproved spontaneous generation with this long neck flask experiment?
Louis Pasteur
What is the golden age of microbiology?
1857 - 1914
The discovery of the role of microorganisms in _____ was
crucial → it linked microorganisms to physical and chemical
changes in organic materials
Fermentation
What did Ignaz Semmelweis bring to the field of microbiology?
He showed that disinfecting hands reduced disease transfer
What did Joseph Lister bring to the field of microbiology?
He applied germ theory to medical procedures.
He knew that phenol killed bacteria, so he started applying it to surgical wounds
Who was the first person to demonstrate that bacteria specifically causes disease and how did he show it>
Robert Koch
He studied anthrax: found that anthrax-infected cattle and sheep had rod-shaped bacteria in their blood
He isolated and cultured these bacteria on nutrient plates
Injected cultured bacteria into healthy animals → they died
Isolated blood from the dead animal to compare to the first bacteria, and they were identical
What of Koch’s postulates?
The microorganism must be present in every case of the disease, but
absent from healthy organisms
The suspected microorganisms must be isolated and grown in pure
culture
The same disease must result when the isolated microorganism is
inoculated into a healthy host
The same microorganism must be isolated again from the diseased host
Who came up with agar as a solid media to culture organism growth?
Fannie Eilshemius Hesse
Koch’s assistant’s wife
Why is agar a good solid media?
Most bacterial species can’t digest it
It doesn’t melt until heated above 100 C
Solidifies again at about 50 C, make it easy to sterilize and pour
Who tested variolation and immunity and how did he first do it?
Edward Jenner
Noticed that milkmaids who were exposed to cowpox were immune to smallpox
Jenner then infected an 8 year old boy with cowpox and then later infected him with smallpox
Who speculated about a “magic bullet” substance and what does that mean?
Paul Ehrlich
A magic bullet meaning a substance that could destroy a pathogen without harming the host
What was the first “magic bullet” discovered?
Salvarsan
A derivative of arsenic that was effective against syphilis
When were sulfa drugs synthesized?
1930s
