Microbiology - Historic names to know

1860-1960s

Mendel

Charles Darwin

Nature of Species/Natural Selection

Joseph Lister

First to employ Phenol to kill germs

Clara Barton

Making things more hygienic → reduce disease transmission. Founded Red Cross

Florence Nightingale

Got soldier death/battle injury data. Infections go w/death INSTEAD of injury

Robert Koch

Made Koch Postulates. Answered how pathogens cause disease

Louis Pasteur

Dimitri Ivanovski

Did filter experiment → microbe so small filters don’t work on it → Tobacco mosaic disease

Paul Ehrlich (syphilis guy)

Used Koch Postulates → Created Treponema Pallidum → created anti-bacterial chemotherapy!

Alexander Fleming (1929)

Chain & Florey (1942)

Penicillin to treat syphilis/other Gram positive infections. However later on caused antibiotic resistance

No anti-bacterial drugs have been developed in decades

TRUE

Watson & Crick (1954)

Jonas Salk (1954)

Created polio vaccine by sugarcube

Robert Hooke 1665

Microscope inventor. Called cells little boxes. FIRST visual evidence of organisms naked eye CANT SEE.

Sabin and Attenuated Polio Virus (1962)

Monkeypox. (edit later)

Bishop & Varmus (1976)

Saw 90% of human DNA does NOTHING (dormant) Awaken genes → cancer forms. Oncogenes discovery

Carl Woese (1977) Pronounced wah-she.

Concluded there are 3 domains of life. Bacteria/Archaea/Eukarya

Robert Gallo & Montagnier (1982)

Identified human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)

Haemophilus influenza (1995)

#2 cause of ear infection. Baby killer ☹

Human Genome Project (2003)

1st time IN HISTORY mapping out DNA sequence. 2000+ DNA errors that cause human disease.

World “ended” (2012)

December 21, 2012. Mayan calandar predicted it.

Coronavirus (2019)

From Wuhan, China. Virus mutated to SARS-COV2. Similar to MARS, but COVID killed people.

World resurrected (2025)

What did SIV (monkeyvirus) mutate into

HIV

We ___ have medications that can CURE HIV

DON’T

Viruses are always _____

mutating

How many base pairs do humans have?

3.1 billion

Wuhan Lab was conducting

“gain of function” research aka change virus to make it more deadly.