Louis Pasteur should be remembered for more than just inventing the process that keeps milk from spoiling. Louis Pasteur was one of the giants of modern science. It's because of Pasteur that we worry about whether food is pure, that medical instruments are sterilized, and ultimately that antibiotics and vaccines even exist.
He came up with the underpinnings of modern biology and germ theory, and in the process he saved millions of people's lives. Born in Dôle, France on December 27, 1822, Louis Pasteur attended the Ecole Normale University in Paris before becoming a professor of chemistry at the University of Lille. In 1854, he began studying the problem of spoilage with beer, wine, and milk. He proved that The reason these beverages are spoiling was because bacteria and other microorganisms were coming in from the outside air.
He developed a process called pasteurization where these liquids are boiled and then cooled thereby getting rid of the bacteria and microorganisms. When you say pasteurization most people are linking it to milk or to food products but actually it has much more long-lasting consequences. For example we pasteurize medical instruments which prevents the spread of disease.
Pasteur realized that if germs were the cause of fermentation, then they could also be the cause of contagious diseases. It is because of his research that we now know to wash our hands to prevent getting sick. Before the development of germ theory, surgeons and doctors didn't think that something as tiny as a germ could actually hurt something as large as a human being. So they often didn't even wash their hands before cutting into people.
And in those days, surgery was often a death sentence. It's through Pasteur's work that people understood. that these infectious diseases were caused by bacteria as well as fungi that were coming in from the environment and invading the body.
Despite skepticism from the medical community, Pasteur continued with his research on germ theory. Eventually, he not only was able to explain the causes of many diseases, but figured out a way to prevent them. The concept of vaccines wasn't new. Pasteur's unique contribution was to take the actual bacteria responsible for these diseases Weaken it in the lab and then reintroduce it as a vaccine in susceptible people.
Some of the diseases that Pasteur's vaccinations were able to cure were anthrax, cholera, TB, and smallpox. The French Academy of Sciences finally accepted the results from Pasteur's germ theory experiments in 1864. Louis Pasteur gave us an understanding of sterile technique and the importance of antisepsis within medicine. The Pasteur Institute in Paris was created to further Pasteur's research, which continues to this day.
Louis Pasteur died on September 28, 1895. Louis Pasteur's legacy is felt every day in the modern world, and all of us are familiar with his work whether we know it or not. Pasteurization, the theory of viruses, modern vaccines, hospital cleanliness. Without Pasteur's work, many of us wouldn't even be alive today.