Robert Koch

• Who was Robert Koch


  a German doctor who became interested in the work of Pasteur and studied bacteria himself

  him and Pasteur had a strong rivalry which helped drive them on
• What was Robert Koch's short term impact 


  • first person to identify a specific bacterium to a specific disease ( anathrax in animals )
  • came up with a new way of staining bacteria
  • first person to identify a specific bacterium to a specific disease in a human ( TB so small others couldn't see it but he could due to his staining method)
  • him and Pasteur sparked scientific race that would inspire other teams to find new germs/pathogens
• What was Robert Koch's long term impact 


  • advances in Labatory techniques such as cultivating bacteria
  • fostered greater understanding of bacteria- contributed to developments of antibiotics and other treatments
  • foundations for microbiology
• How was Koch limited


  • Vaccines/germ theory not immediately accepted due to inoculation/miasma
  • limited understanding of microorganisms technology and techniques still limited his depth of research. i.e could not see bacteria until later developments in microscopy
• Who was Paul Ehrlich 


  he was Kochs assistant and discovered a chemical cure for syphilis in 1909

  This was Salvarsen 606. it was the first magic bullet

  magic bullets for meningitis blood poisoning pneumonia and scarlet fever were discovered.

  Magic bullet is a chemical drug that fought of infection inside the body.

  Antibiotics are microorganisms not chemicals and are safer/ more effective