Tag Archives: germ theory

Louis Pasteur Changed Medicine, but was Not a Physician

By 1877 Louis Pasteur was coming to realize that he could no longer stand by and make scientific arguments regarding the research conducted on infectious disease. As a scientist he himself had to demonstrate the pathogenic role of the microbe through physical experimentation. Pasteur had so far proven that the absence of germs prevented disease (asepsis and antisepsis), but not …

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Louis Pasteur Experiment: Refute Spontaneous Generation

Louis Pasteur Swan Necked Experiment

This simple Louis Pasteur experiment is perfect for teaching kids the basics of microbiology. The steps of his experiment are as follows: Louis Pasteur designed an experiment to test whether sterile nutrient broth could spontaneously generate microbial life. To do this, he set up two experiments. In both, Pasteur added nutrient broth to flasks, bent the necks of the flasks …

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The epidemic of Savannah

Epidemic of Savannah

Originally published in “The epidemic of Savannah, 1876: its causes the measures of prevention, adopted by the municipality during the administration of Hon. J. F. Wheaton, Mayor” in 1879 BACTERIUM LINEOLA VIBRIO LINEOLA OF EHRENBERG. Under this designation I understand those rod bacteria, which are similar in all regards to the B. termo, but are much larger, and not only …

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Germs from Nowhere

Antonie van Leeuwenhoek

Micro-organsims were first discovered about 250 years ago. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723), a Dutch civil servant, learned how to make excellent lenses from which he also built some of the earliest microscopes. Leeuwenhoek used his microscope to look at lots of different things, including drops of water. When he looked at water drops magnified many times, he saw bacteria swimming …

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Spallanzani and Louis Pasteur – Spontaneous Generation

Lazzaro Spallanzani

Louis Pasteur’s experiments fueled his scientific work and validating his ideas with careful experimention was his passion. The most famous Louis Pasteur experiment was that which he created to disprove the theory of Sponteneous Generation, the theory that living organisms can be “spontaneously generated” from non-living material. Through his experimentation Louis Pasteur concluded that microscopic organisms are present in the …

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Famous Louis Pasteur Experiment: Spontaneous Generation

The steps of the Louis Pasteur Experiment proving the existence of microbes are outlined below: In the first step of the Louis Pasteur experiment, he prepared a nutrient broth similar to the broth one would use in soup. Next, he placed equal amounts of the broth into two long-necked flasks. He left one flask with a straight neck. The other …

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