18/19: L. Pasteur

• Before Louis Pasteur

  • Even Edward Jenner could not explain why vaccination worked.
  • He did not have a powerful microscope.
  • In spite of Jenner’s breakthrough, until the mid 19th century most people continued to believe that miasma (bad air) caused smallpox.
• Louis Pasteur laid the foundations for... (after)

  • 1861: Pasteur published his germ theory.
  • 1865: He had proved the link between germs and disease.
  • 1881: developed a vaccine for anthrax
  • 1885: developed a vaccine for rabies. He influenced Robert Koch
• Louis Pasteur's discovery

  • Louis Pasteur, an admirer of Jenner, though that vaccination could be used to prevent other diseases.
  • With a microscope he discovered micro-organisms growing in the liquid. He believed that germs appeared to be germinating/growing and causing the problem.
  • Discovered that the microscopic bacteria which turned beer bad could also be killed by heating e.g. pasteurisation.
  • 1861: Pasteur published his germ theory which proved that bacteria caused diseases. In his search for disease treatments, he created the first vaccines for anthrax, and rabies