Robert Koch
Robert Koch
Robert Koch (1843–1910) was a German physician and microbiologist who, together with Louis Pasteur, founded modern bacteriology. Working as a country doctor in a small Prussian town, he set up a laboratory in his home and studied anthrax with a microscope he had received from his wife. His turning point came in 1876, when he traced the full life cycle of the anthrax bacterium, providing the first proof that a specific microbe causes a specific disease. In 1882 he identified the bacterium that causes tuberculosis, and the following year he identified the cause of cholera. He set out the principles, known as Koch's postulates, for linking a microbe to a disease, and his laboratory developed methods for growing bacteria on solid media and staining them. He received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1905. World Tuberculosis Day, March 24, marks the date of his 1882 announcement.
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Pioneers of Hygiene and Germ Theory
Ignaz Semmelweis showed that handwashing by doctors sharply reduced deaths among new mothers, and Florence Nightingale improved survival in military hospitals through sanitation and careful statistics. Louis Pasteur demonstrated that microorganisms cause fermentation and disease, Joseph Lister applied his findings to introduce antiseptic surgery, and Robert Koch identified the bacteria responsible for tuberculosis and cholera.
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