Louis Pasteur
| Famous as | Chemist, Microbiologist |
| Born on | 27 December 1822 |
| Born in | Dole, Jura, Franche-Comté, France |
| Died on | 28 September 1895 |
| Nationality | France |
| Works & Achievements | Created vaccine for rabies and anthrax for the first time, invented Pasteurization for milk, Made several discoveries in medicines |
Louis Pasteur Childhood
On 27 December, 1822 Louis Pasteur was born in a poor family of
tanners in Dole, situated in the Jura region of France. Louis was
brought up in Arbois town in eastern France. He received his degrees in
Letters and Mathematical Sciences. Soon after this he got admitted to
École Normale Supérieure, an elite college.
Career & Personal Life
In 1848 Pasteur became the professor of physics at Dijon Lycée. He
stayed here for a short period before switching off to University of
Strasbourg as a professor of Chemistry. He met and found his love in
Marie Laurent, daughter of the university's rector, in 1849. On 29 May
in the same year Pasteur married Marie with whom he had 5 children out
of which only two survived to become adults. Pasteur’s three children
died of typhoid. Losing his children was very tragic in Pasteur’s life
which also made him firm in discovering cures for diseases like typhoid.
Pasteur’s personal losses left a deep scar within him inspiring him to
do something for incurable diseases and symptoms.
Work
Pasteur started off his scientific career with chemistry. His first
chemical quest was with nature of tartaric acid in 1848. A tartaric
acid solution usually derived from living things, specifically wine
sediment, was found to rotate the light polarization plane when light
passed through it. Pasteur solved the mystery in tartaric acid and found
that the acid when derived out of chemical synthesis had no such effect
even when the chemical reactions seemed identical and elemental
composition was also found to be the same. Pasteur’s discovery was a
first time demonstration of chiral molecules by any scientist so far.
Pasteur had presented his doctoral thesis on crystallography which
aroused great interest in W. T. Fuillet who came forward and helped
Pasteur in his appointed as the professor of chemistry at the Faculté
(College) of Strasbourg.
In 1854 Pasteur was made the Dean of the new Faculty of Sciences in
Lille. In 1856 Pasteur was appointed as the administrator and director
of scientific studies of the École Normale Supérieure (a very
prestigious French higher education establishment).
Discoveries, Theories & Contributions
Pasteur was the first microbiologist ever to state that microbial
function caused fermentation in food elements, etc. Pasteur further
explained (and cleared doubts) that the growth in bacteria in foods or
liquids was caused not due to spontaneous generation of bacteria but due
to biogenesis which means growth of organisms from laid eggs. Pasteur
explained that a closed container also contained microbes, which was
possible due to their entry through dust spores. This theory given out
by Pasteur is known as his very famous ‘Germ Theory’.
Pasteur soon found that expansion of microbes spoilt liquids and
beverages like milk, wine and beer. He started doing tests and expanded
his theories based on germ theory and discovered that heating of liquids
like milk kills most of the microbes present in them. First tests were
completed on 20th April 1862 with the help of Claude Bernard. Soon this
liquid germ killing process was called as pasteurization.
Pasteur became worried (and greatly immersed in his experiments and
thoughts) about liquid contamination. He found that micro-organisms
infecting animals and humans can also cause diseases. Pasteur wanted to
stop the entry of harmful micro-organisms into the human body which
resulted in Joseph Lister developing antiseptic methods in surgery.
In 1865 it was found that silkworms were being affected and killed
by parasitic diseases called pébrine and flacherie. Pasteur worked very
hard to prove that it was the function of microbes that were attacking
silkworm eggs and causing the diseases. Pasteur also stated that the
only remedy would be to remove this microbe from silkworm nurseries to
prevent the diseases.
Pasteur invented anaerobiosis which stated that there are some
microbes that can survive without oxygen and air which was named the
Pasteur Effect.
Pasteur worked on chicken cholera. While performing this research
one of his cultures, including the responsible bacteria, was found to
have spoiled and failed to bring the disease in some chickens which he
was trying to infect with the disease. Pasteur tried to use these healthy
chickens for later use but could not infect them even with fresh
bacteria. He found that the already weak bacteria made the chicken
immune to cholera in spite of showing mild symptoms of the disease.
Pasteur’s assistant Charles Chamberland was asked to vaccinate the
chickens used in cholera research during Pasteur’s holiday. Charles
failed to carry out the vaccination and left the chickens like they
were. After returning from a month long holiday the 1 month old cultures
made the chickens sick but did not make the infection fatal in the
chickens. Instead the chickens recovered fully. Charles was shocked to
see that and thought of throwing away the faulty cultures (he suspected
some malfunction causing the chickens to recover which was usually not
possible) but Pasteur stopped him. Pasteur quickly figured that the
chickens would now be immune to the disease, quite like the animals at
Eure-et-Loir that had recovered from anthrax. In 1870s Pasteur used his
cholera immunization method on anthrax which was fast affecting cattle.
Soon this discovery was thought of fighting and preventing other
diseases.
Pasteur worked laboriously in bringing out artificially weakened
diseases in his laboratories. He put chemical and microbiological
combination in creating ‘vaccines’. Pasteur named his first discovered
vaccine for rabies which he obtained by growing the virus in rabbits and
then weakening the strength of the disease by drying-up the affected
nerve tissue. Pasteur (taking a huge risk for not being a professional
and a licensed physician) performed his first rabies vaccination on 6
July 1885 on a young boy of 9 who was bitten by a mad dog having rabies.
Pasteur became very famous after this incident and was hailed as a
genius, a hero who saved lives. However, there is said to be some
controversy in Pasteur’s discovery as there is very little chance of
contracting rabies after such an exposure.
Published Works
Pasteur wrote several books and journals. He had also taken several
notes in all of his tests, samplings and researches in his laboratory.
Some of his notable and principal works include "Etudes sur le Vin",
(1866); "Etudes sur le Vinaigre" (1868); "Etudes sur la Maladie des Vers
à Soie" (2 vols., 1870); "Quelques Réflexions sur la Science en France"
(1871); "Etudes sur la Bière" (1876); "Les Microbes organisés, leur
rôle dans la Fermentation, la Putréfaction et la Contagion" (1878);
"Discours de Réception de M.L. Pasteur à l'Académie Française" (1882);
"Traitement de la Rage" (1886).
Honours
In 1895 Pasteur received Leeuwenhoek medal which is regarded as
microbiology's highest Dutch honor in Arts and Sciences. Pasteur was
handed over the prestigious Grand Croix of the Legion of Honor. The
Pasteur Institute was created in his honour on 4 June 1887 and
inaugurated on November 14, 1888. Université Louis Pasteur has also been
named after him.
There are several streets named after him. A statue of Pasteur is
built on the campus of San Rafael High School in San Rafael, California.
A south Indian hill station named Ootakamund has a Pasteur Institute in
honor of the great man.
Death
Pasteur suffered from several heart strokes which started in 1868.
He died on 28 September 1895. It is said that during his death Pasteur
was engrossed in listening to the story of St Vincent de Paul, a
renowned catholic Priest who was admired by Pasteur. Pasteur’s body was
buried in the Cathedral of Notre Dame. His remains were made into a
crypt in the Pasteur Institute in Paris which is remembered even today
for his outstanding life saving works.
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Timeline: | ||||
1822 – Pasteur was born on 27 December
1848 - Pasteur became the professor of physics at Dijon Lycée
1848 - His first chemical quest was with nature of tartaric acid
1849 - He met and found his love in Marie Laurent,
daughter of the University of Strasbourg’s (where Pasteur was the
Professor of Chemistry) rector
1849 - On 29 May Pasteur married Marie
1854 - Pasteur was made the Dean of the new Faculty of Sciences in Lille
1856 - Pasteur was appointed as the administrator
and director of scientific studies of the École Normale Supérieure (a
very prestigious French higher education establishment)
1862 - First tests were completed on 20 April with
the help of Claude Bernard and soon liquid germ killing process was
called as pasteurization
1868 - Pasteur suffered from several heart strokes
1870s - Pasteur used his cholera immunization
method on anthrax which was fast affecting cattle. Soon this discovery
was thought of fighting and preventing other diseases
1885 – He performed his first rabies vaccination on 6 July on a young boy of 9 who was bitten by a mad dog having rabies
1887 - The Pasteur Institute was created in his honour on 4 June
1888 - The Pasteur Institute was inaugurated on November 14
1895 - Pasteur received Leeuwenhoek medal which is regarded as microbiology's highest Dutch honour in Arts and Sciences
1895 - He died on 28 September
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