Microbiology in Historical Context Flashcards
Importance of microorganism
- Oldest form of life
- Largest mass of living material on earth
- Carry our major processes for biogeochemical cycles
- Can live in places unsuitable for other organism
- Other life forms require microbes to survive
Robert Hooke
how long did he live ?
what did he do ?
- Lived from 1635 to 1703
- First to describe microbes
- Illustrated the fruiting structures of molds
Antoni Van Leeuwenitoken
how long did he live ?
what did he do ?
- Lived from 1632 to 1703
- First to describe bacteria (1676)
- Further progress required development of more powerful microbes
Ferdinand Cohn
how long did he live ?
what did he do ?
- Lived from 1828 to 1898
- Founded the field of bacterial classification and discovered bacterial endospores
Louis Pasteur
how long did he live ?
what did he do ?
- Lived from 1822 to 1895
- Discovered the alcoholic fermentation was biologically mediated process , which was originally though to be purely chemical
- Disproved the theory of spontaneous generation
- Developed vaccines for anthrax, fowl cholera and rabies
- Fist rabies vacine was administered to Joseph Meister (1855)
- Pasteur Institute established in Paris in 1888
- Helped solidify the concept of the germ theory of diseases
What is the theory of spontaneous generation about ?
A theory that suggests that living organisms could arise spontaneously
from a non-living matter.
e.g. it was believed that maggots could spontaneously arise from decaying meat.
What experiment did Louis Pasteur carry out to disprove the theory of spontaneous generation ?
- Nonsterile liquid poured into flask
Neck of the flask drawn out in flame
Liquid is sterilised by heating
Steam forced out of open end - Dust and microorganisms trapped in the end of the flask
Liquid cooled slowly
Open end is left open
Liquid remains sterile indefinitely - Flask tipped so that microorganisms and dust come in contact with the sterile liquid.
In a short time, liquid purifies
Ignaz Semmelweis
- Lived from 1818 to 1865
- Hungarian physician
- Advocated for handwashing in hospitals to reduce the incidence of childbed fever, among mothers in maternity wards.
- His work laid the foundation for modern antiseptic practices in medicine and earned him the nickname “savior of mothers” for his contributions to maternal health
Joseph Lister
- Lived from 1827 to 1912
- Father of modern surgery and a pioneer in the field of antiseptic surgery
- His work was pivotal in the development of infection control practices in medical settings.
- Lister introduced the concept of spraying carbolic acid in the operating theater and on surgical dressings to create a sterile environment.
Robert Koch
- Lived from 1843 to 1910
- Demonstrated the link between microbes and infectious diseases
- Used mice as an experimental animal
- Identified causative agents of thorax and tuberculosis
- Koch’s postulates are a set of four criteria or principles to establish a causal relationship between a microorganism and a specific disease.
- Developed techniques for obtaining pure cultures of microbes
- Awarded Nobel Prize in 1905
who and when was penicillin discovered?
- Fleming 1928
who and when was streptomycin (antibiotic) discovered ?
Waksman 1944
who and when was the structure of DNA discovered
- ## Watson, Crick and Franklin 1953
who and when was the genetic code discovered ?
Nirenberg, Khorana, Holley 1966
When was the bacterial genome sequenced ?
1995
