how far did understanding of the cause of illness change in

• germ theory

  • Pasteur was a chemist who fundamentally changed our understanding of biology
  • 1950s - pasteur experimented on alcohol to prove that germs caused disease
  • 1860s - disproved spontaneous generation at a competition by the french academy of science
  • 1861 - published germ theory (micro-organisms in the air cause disease)
  • 1865 - silkworm experiments to link micro-organisms to disease in animals
  • 1878 - published germ theory and application to medicine
  • because of Pasteur there was an understanding that microbes cause disease and this significantly changed out understanding of medicine
• identifying bacteria and vaccinations

  • Koch was the scientist who identified different bacteria and inspired other scientists
  • 1872 - set up a lab and developed a method of staining and identifying microorganisms
  • 1876 - identified anthrax
  • 1878 - identified septicaemia
  • 1878 - he discovered that weak/old chicken germs could be used to fight a more virulent fresh culture of the disease
  • 1881 - he developed an anthrax vaccine for animals
  • 1882 - he developed a rabies vaccine which he also used on humans
• chemical cures

  • Curie paved the was for the use of radioactivity to treat cancer
  • 1898 - discovered polonium and radium
  • 1908 - won a noble prize for physics for work on radioactivity
  • 1910 - Sorbonne built first radium institute for study of radioactivity - to shrink tumours
  • Paul Ehrich worked as part of Koch's team
  • he believed a magic bullet chemical could target a specific germs and focused on syphilis - he experimented with arsenic
  • 1909 - salvarsarn 606 discovered to kill the syphilis germ
  • 1911 first used on humans