Louis Pasteur was a French chemist and microbiologist. Despite his modest upbringing, Louis Pasteur would eventually become France’s leading scientific mind and later be known as one of history’s most prolific geniuses. Pasteur’s greatest discoveries resulted in what he termed, “The Germ Theory of Disease” and led to breakthroughs in the causes and preventions of disease, methods of preservation and sanitary production of food. His work opened the door to further discoveries in Microbiology, Bacteriology and Chemistry in general.

Louis Pasteur's Childhood and Youth

Louis Pasteur was born on December 27, 1822 in the tranquil town Dôle, in the Jura region of France to the family of a poor tanner. Pasteur’s early education was not in life sciences, but rather he gained degrees in Letters and Mathematical Sciences. Pasteur was a novice artist and painted a series of pastel portraits, now collected under the title Pasteur: Dessins et pastels. As a young man Pasteur's father would share his experiences and opinions of the Napoleonic Wars. Later in life these shared memories would help Pasteur develop a great sense of pride and dedication to his homeland France.

For some time during the 19th century, the French wine industry was burdened by different diseases that caused wine to become sour, bitter or flavorless. Knowledge of French wine diseases spread throughout Europe, greatly damaging the wine export sector in France. An English merchant said this just after the treaty agreement between France and Great Britain in 1863:

In the beginning we eagerly greeted the arrival of these wines, but we soon made the sad experience that this trade caused great losses and endless troubles because of the disease to which they are subject.*