Generations of Microbiology

Flashcards covering key figures, discoveries, and milestones across the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd generations of microbiology.

__________ is credited with foundational discoveries in fermentation, pasteurization, and disproving spontaneous generation.

Louis Pasteur

Joseph Lister drastically reduced surgical infections by introducing __________ (carbolic acid) as an antiseptic for surgical instruments and wounds.

phenol

Known as the 'Savior of mothers,' __________ discovered that handwashing drastically reduced puerperal (childbed) fever.

Ignaz Semmelweis

Ignaz Semmelweis showed that handwashing with __________ drastically reduced puerperal (childbed) fever.

chlorinated lime

The staining procedure used to classify bacteria was developed by __________.

Hans Christian Gram

Julius Richard Petri invented the Petri dish while working in the laboratory of __________.

Robert Koch

Emil von Behring won the 1901 Nobel Prize for discovering the __________ antitoxin, marking the first major step in immunology.

Diphtheria

__________ introduced agar as a solid media to grow bacteria.

Fanny Angelina Hesse

Paul Ehrlich developed __________, known as the 'magic bullet,' to treat syphilis.

Salvarsan

Robert Koch discovered the causes of anthrax and tuberculosis, and formulated four postulates to prove __________.

germ theory

Alexander Fleming discovered the first true antibiotic, __________, in 1928.

penicillin

Howard Florey and __________ figured out how to mass-produce and purify penicillin into a usable drug, sharing the 1945 Nobel Prize with Fleming.

Ernst Chain

Selman Waksman discovered __________, the first antibiotic effective against tuberculosis.

streptomycin

John Enders, Thomas Weller, and Frederick Robbins figured out how to grow viruses in cell cultures, directly leading to the __________ vaccine.

polio

YouYou Tu received the 2015 Nobel Prize for discovering __________, a major breakthrough in malaria treatment.

Artemisinin

Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier discovered __________, the cause of AIDS, earning the 2008 Nobel Prize.

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)

Barry Marshall and Robin Warren overturned the medical belief that stress caused peptic ulcers by discovering that they are caused by __________.

Helicobacter pylori