History people microbio

Ötzi the Iceman

Preserved body suggests knowledge of early medicinal plants or treatments

Hippocrates

Proposed natural, not supernatural, causes for disease

Thucydides

First to describe disease immunity based on observation of survivors

Marcus Terentius Varro

Suggested disease was caused by invisible “minute creatures” in the air

The Romans

Built aqueducts and sewers to promote sanitation

Antonie van Leeuwenhoek

Observed microorganisms ("animalcules") using handcrafted lenses

Louis Pasteur

Demonstrated that microbes cause fermentation, Developed vaccines and sterilization techniques, Disproved spontaneous generation with swan-neck flask experiment

Robert Koch

Discovered causative agents of TB, cholera, and anthrax, Established experimental methods to link microbes with disease

Fermentation

Ancient microbial process used in making bread, wine, yogurt

Miasma Theory

Theory that disease came from bad-smelling air

Lynn Margulis

Championed endosymbiotic theory; supported five-kingdom classification

Fanny Hesse

Co-developed agar as a growth medium for culturing microbes

Martha Chase

Helped prove DNA—not protein—carries genetic information

Esther Lederberg

Discovered bacteriophage lambda; innovator in microbial genetics

Jennifer Doudna

Pioneered CRISPR gene-editing; shared Nobel Prize in 2020

Elizabeth Bugie

Co-discovered Streptomycin; contribution uncredited in Nobel award

Carl Linnaeus

3 kingdoms: Plant, Animal and Minera

Ernst Haeckel

Added the kingdom Fungi

Robert Whittaker

Separated the kingdoms into “Empires” – Eukaryota and Prokaryota

Carl Woese and Goerge Fox

3 domains of life: Bacteria, Archaea, Eukarya