Louis Pasteur and germ theory

• Spontaneous generation


  The theory that decaying matter, things that had started to rot, created microbes
• Miasma


  Smells from decomposing material, such as animal and human waste, that were thought to cause disease
• Microbes


  Microscopically small organisms, such as bacteria or single-celled fungi
• Louis Pasteur


  A French scientist who specialised in chemistry and microbiology
• Pasteurisation


  Heating a liquid to a certain temperature to kill bacteria and prevent it from going bad
• Fermentation


  The breakdown of a substance, caused by yeast, bacteria or other microorganisms
• Bacteria


  Single-celled microorganisms, some of which are pathogenic in humans, animals and plants
• Pasteur's germ theory proved that bacteria were the cause of disease
• Pasteur's germ theory


  • It significantly challenged the idea of spontaneous generation
  • Pasteur argued that bacteria were the cause of disease, but he was not able to identify the specific bacteria that caused individual diseases
• Infection


  The invasion and growth of germs in the body
• Microscope


  A device used to enlarge tiny objects that cannot be seen by the naked eye
• Pasteur's ideas were not accepted in Britain straight away and many people continued to believe in the idea of spontaneous generation
• Joseph Lister, a surgeon, read Pasteur's ideas and began to make links between bacteria and infection in surgery
• It was difficult to separate the bacteria that were causing infection from those already present