Hospitals, Germ Theory, and Cell Theory

A set of vocabulary flashcards covering the key scientists, discoveries, and foundational principles of germ theory and cell theory.

Ignaz Semmelweis

19th-century scientist who initiated the germ theory movement by demonstrating that hand washing in hospital settings reduces puerperal infections.

Joseph Lister

Surgeon who pioneered the use of antiseptics on medical equipment and introduced carbolic acid as a disinfectant during surgery in 1867.

Miasma Theory

An early theory of disease origin proposed by the Ancient Greeks.

Fracastoro

Author who initiated an early version of germ theory in his 1546 work De Contagione et Contagiosis Morbis.

Antonie van Leeuwenhoek

Microscopist who first observed single-celled organisms in 1674.

John Snow

Physician who demonstrated in 1854 that cholera bacteria were transmitted in contaminated drinking water.

Louis Pasteur

Scientist who discovered microbial fermentation in 1856 while studying beer and wine spoilage, and disproved spontaneous generation in 1862 with his swan-neck flask experiment.

Carbolic Acid

Chemical agent first used by Joseph Lister in 1867 as a disinfectant during surgery.

Robert Koch

Researcher who, along with his workers between 1876 and 1906, determined causative agents for many bacterial infections.

Micrographia

The work published by Robert Hooke containing the first published illustration of cork cells.

Cells

Term first coined by Robert Hooke in 1665 to describe the internal structure of cork, which is long dead plant matter.

Cell Theory

Biological concept establishing that all living things are made of one or more cells, the cell is the fundamental unit of structure and function, all cells arise from pre-existing cells by division, and cells must replicate on their own.