History of Microbiology

Robert Hooke

The person to observe cells in a sample of cork. He coined the term "cells."

Cell Theory

A concept that states: All living organisms are composed of one or more cells.

Antoni van Leeuwenhoek

The first person to see living cells. He called them "animalcules."

Spontaneous Generation

The idea that living organisms can arise from nonliving materials.

Francesco Redi

He used jars containing meat to disprove the idea that maggots developed spontaneously from meat.

John Needham

He supported the concept of spontaneous generation. After heating his flasks of broth, microbes started growing in them. He believed the microbes came from the broth itself.

Lazzaro Spallanzani

He refuted the concept of spontaneous generation. He sealed his flasks of broth to prove that microbes came from the air, not the broth.

Edward Jenner

He created the first vaccine, which used cowpox to prevent smallpox.

vaccine

A preparation of microbes used to induce artificial immunity.

vaccination

A word meaning "cow." A process used to create immunity in an individual organism.

immunity

The ability of an organism to resist infection.

Ignaz Semmelweis

He showed that doctors could spread infections between patients (pregnant mothers) if doctor's did not wash their hands.

Germ Theory of Disease

The idea that diseases are primarily caused by germs.

John Snow

He was the father of epidemiology because he linked an outbreak of cholera to the drinking of contaminated water.

Rudolph Virchow

He created the theory of biogenesis to counteract spontaneous generation.

Biogenesis

Living cells only arise from preexisting cells.

Louis Pasteur

He completely disproved spontaneous generation by using swan-necked flasks.

fermentation

A process using yeast or bacteria to convert sugars into alcohol in the absence of oxygen.

pasteurization

The process of using heat to kill microbes without damaging the product.

Joseph Lister

He successfully lowered the number of deaths from surgical infections by using phenol (carbolic acid) on his hands and surgical instruments.

aseptic technique

A practice of preventing contamination by unwanted microbes.

Robert Koch

He created FOUR postulates to link each disease to a specific microbe.

pathogens

Microbes that produce disease.

Paul Ehrlich

He dreamed of "magic bullets" that could hunt down and destroy diseases.

chemotherapy

The treatment of a disease using chemicals.

synthetic drugs

Medications prepared from chemicals not found in nature.

Chaim Weizmann

He found that bacteria could convert food waste (corn) into a useful product: acetone.

biotechnology

The use of organisms to make products to improve human lives.

Alexander Fleming

He accidentally discovered the first antibiotic: penicillin.

antibiotic

Natural chemicals produced by bacteria or fungi to inhibit the growth of other microbes.

Rene Dubos

He discovered that soil dwelling germs also produced an antibiotic: tyrothricin.

microbial ecology

The interaction of microbes with other organisms and the environment.