Louis Pasteur Biography Born: December 27, 1822 Dôle, France Died: September 28, 1895 Paris, France The French chemist and biologist Louis Pasteur is famous for his germ theory and for the development of vaccines. He made major contributions to chemistry, medicine, and industry. His discovery that diseases are spread by microbes, which are living organisms— bacteria and viruses—that are invisible to the eye, saved countless lives all over the world. The tanner's son Louis Pasteur was born on December 27, 1822, in the small town of Dôle, France. His father was a tanner, a person who prepares animal skins to be made into leather. The men in Pasteur's family had been tanners back to 1763, when his great-grandfather set up his own tanning business. Part of the tanning process relies on microbes (tiny living organisms). In tanning, microbes prepare the leather, allowing it to become soft and strong. Other common products such as beer, wine, bread, and cheese depend on microbes as well. Yet, at the time Pasteur was a child, few people knew that microbes existed. Pasteur's parents, Jean-Joseph Pasteur and Jeanne Roqui, taught their children the values of family loyalty, respect for hard work, and financial security. Jean-Joseph, who had received little education himself, wanted his son to become a teacher at the local lycée (high school). Pasteur attended the École Primaire (primary school), and in 1831 entered the Collège d'Arboix. He was regarded as an average student, who showed some
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Louis Pasteur Biography
Born: December 27, 1822
Dôle, France
Died: September 28, 1895
Paris, France
The French chemist and biologist Louis Pasteur is famous for his germ
theory and for the development of vaccines. He made major contributions to
chemistry, medicine, and industry. His discovery that diseases are spread
by microbes, which are living organisms—bacteria and viruses—that are
invisible to the eye, saved countless lives all over the world.
The tanner's son
Louis Pasteur was born on December 27, 1822, in the small town of Dôle,
France. His father was a tanner, a person who prepares animal skins to be
made into leather. The men in Pasteur's family had been tanners back to
1763, when his great-grandfather set up his own tanning business. Part of
the tanning process relies on microbes (tiny living organisms). In tanning,
microbes prepare the leather, allowing it to become soft and strong. Other
common products such as beer, wine, bread, and cheese depend on
microbes as well. Yet, at the time Pasteur was a child, few people knew that
microbes existed.
Pasteur's parents, Jean-Joseph Pasteur and Jeanne Roqui, taught their
children the values of family loyalty, respect for hard work, and financial
security. Jean-Joseph, who had received little education himself, wanted his
son to become a teacher at the local lycée (high school). Pasteur attended
the École Primaire (primary school), and in 1831 entered the Collège
d'Arboix. He was regarded as an average student, who showed some talent
as an artist. Nonetheless, the headmaster encouraged Pasteur to prepare
for the École Normale Supérieure, a very large training college for teachers
located in Paris. With this encouragement he applied himself to his studies.
He swept the school prizes during the 1837 and 1838 school year.
Pasteur went to Paris in 1838 at the age of sixteen. His goal was to study
and prepare for entering the École Normale. Yet, he returned to Arboix less
than a month later, overwhelmed with homesickness. In August of 1840 he
received his bachelor's degree in letters from the Collège Royal de
Besançon and was appointed to tutor at the Collège. In 1842, at age twenty,
he received his bachelor's degree in science. He then returned to Paris, and
was admitted to the École Normale in the autumn of 1843. His doctoral
thesis (a long essay resulting from original work in college) was on
crystallography, the study of forms and structures of crystals.
Investigations into crystals
In 1848, while professor of physics at the lycée of Tournon, the minister of
education granted Pasteur special permission for a leave of absence. During
this time, Pasteur studied how certain crystals affect light. He became
famous for this work. The French government made him a member of the
Legion of Honor and Britain's Royal Society presented him with the Copley
Medal.
Studies on fermentation
In 1852 Pasteur became chairman of the chemistry department at the
University of Strasbourg, in Strasbourg, France. Here he began studying
fermentation, a type of chemical process in which sugars are turned into
alcohol. His work resulted in tremendous improvements in the brewing of
beer and the making of wine. He also married at this time.
In 1854, at the age of thirty-one, Pasteur became professor of chemistry and
dean of sciences at the new University of Lille. Soon after his arrival at
Lille, a producer of vinegar from beet juice requested Pasteur's help. The
vinegar producer could not understand why his vinegar sometimes spoiled
and wanted to know how to prevent it.
Pasteur examined the beet juice under his microscope. He discovered it
contained alcohol and yeast. The yeast was causing the
Louis Pasteur.
Reproduced by permission of the
Corbis Corporation
.
beet juice to ferment. Pasteur then demonstrated that controlled heating of the
beet juice destroyed the yeast, and prevented fermentation. This process, called
"pasteurization," was eventually applied to preserve a number of foods such as
cheese and milk. It also became the basis for dramatically reducing infection in the
operating room.
Studies on silkworms
In 1865 Pasteur was asked to help the ailing silk industry in France. An
epidemic among silkworms was ruining it. He took his microscope to the
south of France and set to work. Four months later he had isolated the
microorganism causing the disease. After three years of intensive work he
suggested methods for bringing it under control.
The theory of microbial disease
Pasteur's scientific triumphs coincided with personal and national tragedy.
In 1865 his father died. His two daughters were lost to typhoid fever in
1866. Overworked and grief-stricken, Pasteur suffered a cerebral
hemorrhage (a bleeding caused by a broken blood vessel in the brain) in
1868. Part of his left arm and leg were permanently paralyzed.
Nevertheless, he pressed on.
Pasteur saw the trains of wounded men coming home from the Franco-
German War (1870–71; war fought to prevent unification under German
rule). He urged the military medical corps to adopt his theory that disease
and infection were caused by microbes. The military medical corps
unwillingly agreed to sterilize their instruments and bandages, treating
them with heat to kill microbes. The results were spectacular, and in 1873
Pasteur was made a member of the French Academy of Medicine—a
remarkable accomplishment for a man without a formal medical degree.
Animal studies
A particularly devastating outbreak of anthrax, a killer plague that affected
cattle and sheep, broke out between 1876 and 1877. The anthrax bacillus (a
type of microbe shaped like a rod) had already been identified by Robert
Koch (1843–1910) in 1876. It had been argued that the bacillus did not
carry the disease, but that a toxic (poisonous) substance associated with it
did. Pasteur proved that the bacillus itself was the disease agent, or the
carrier of the disease.
In 1881 Pasteur had convincing evidence that gentle heating of anthrax
bacilli could so weaken its strength that it could be used to inoculate
animals. Inoculation is a process of introducing a weakened disease agent
into the body. The body gets a mild form of the disease, but becomes
immunized (strengthened against) the actual disease. Pasteur inoculated
one group of sheep with the vaccine and left another untreated. He then
injected both groups with the anthrax bacillus. The untreated sheep died
and the treated sheep lived.
Pasteur also used inoculation to conquer rabies. Rabies is a fatal disease of
animals, particularly dogs, which is transmitted to humans through a bite. It
took five years to isolate and culture the rabies virus microbe. Finally, in
1884, in collaboration with other investigators, Pasteur perfected a method
of growing the virus in the tissues of rabbits. The virus could be weakened
by exposing it to sterile air. A vaccine, or weakened form of the microbe,
could then be prepared for injection. The success of this method was
greeted with excitement all over the world.
The question soon arose as to how the rabies vaccine would act on humans.
In 1885 a nine-year-old boy, Joseph Meister, was brought to Pasteur. He
was suffering from fourteen bites from a rabid dog. With the agreement of
the child's physician, Pasteur began his treatment with the vaccine. The
injections continued over a twelve-day period, and the child recovered.
Honors from the world
In 1888 a grateful France founded the Pasteur Institute. It was destined to
become one of the most productive centers of biological study in the world.
In 1892 Pasteur's seventieth birthday was the occasion of a national
holiday. A huge celebration was held at the Sorbonne. Unfortunately
Pasteur was too weak to speak to the delegates who had gathered from all
over the world. His son read his speech, which ended: "Gentlemen, you
bring me the greatest happiness that can be experienced by a man whose
invincible belief is that science and peace will triumph over ignorance and
war.… Have faith that in the long run … the future will belong not to the
conquerors but to the saviors of mankind."
On September 28, 1895, Pasteur died in Paris. His last words were: "One
must work; one must work. I have done what I could." He was buried in a
crypt in the Pasteur Institute. Years later Joseph Meister, the boy Pasteur
Louis Pasteur ( / ̍ l uː i p æ s ̍ t ɜ r / , French pronunciation [lwi pastœʁ]; December 27, 1822 – September 28, 1895) was a French chemist and microbiologist born in Dole. He is remembered for his remarkable breakthroughs in the causes and preventions of diseases. His discoveries reduced mortality from puerperal fever, and he created the firstvaccine for rabies and anthrax. His experiments supported the germ theory of disease. He was best known to the general public for inventing a method to stop milk and wine from causing sickness, a process that came to be called pasteurization. He is regarded as one of the three main founders of microbiology, together with Ferdinand Cohn andRobert Koch. Pasteur also made many discoveries in the field of chemistry, most notably the molecular basis for the asymmetry of certain crystals.[2] His body lies beneath the Institute Pasteur in Paris in a spectacular vault covered in depictions of his accomplishments in Byzantine mosaics.[3]
Early life and biography
The house in which Pasteur was born, Dole
Louis Pasteur was born on December 27, 1822, inDole in the Jura region of France, into the family of a poor
tanner. Louis grew up in the town of Arbois.[2] He gained degrees in Letters and in Mathematical Sciences
before entering the École Normale Supérieure, an elite college. After serving briefly asprofessor of physics at
Dijon Lycée in 1848, he became professor of chemistry at the University of Strasbourg,[2] where he met and
courted Marie Laurent, daughter of the university's rector, in 1849. They were married on May 29, 1849, and
together had five children, only two of whom survived to adulthood; the other three died of typhoid. These
personal tragedies inspired Pasteur to try to find cures for diseases such as typhoid.
This vaccine was first used on 9-year old Joseph Meister, on July 6, 1885, after the boy was badly mauled by a
rabid dog.[8] This was done at some personal risk for Pasteur, since he was not a licensed physician and could
have faced prosecution for treating the boy. After consulting with colleagues, Pasteur decided to go ahead with
the treatment. Meister did not contract the disease. It is sometimes said that Pasteur saved the boy's life; but
this cannot be maintained with certainty, since the risk of contracting rabies after such an exposure is estimated
at around 15%.[13] Nonetheless, Pasteur was hailed as a hero and the legal matter was not pursued. The
treatment's success laid the foundations for the manufacture of many other vaccines. The first of the Pasteur
Institutes was also built on the basis of this achievement.[8]
Legal risk was not the only kind Pasteur undertook. In The Story of San Michele, Axel Munthe writes of the
rabies vaccine research:
“ Pasteur himself was absolutely fearless. Anxious to secure a sample of saliva straight from the jaws of a rabid dog, I once saw him with the glass tube held between his lips draw a few drops of the deadly saliva from the mouth of a rabid bull-dog, held on the table by two assistants, their hands protected by leather gloves. ”
Louis Pasteur portrait in his later years.
Because of his study in germs, Pasteur encouraged doctors to sanitize their hands and equipment before
surgery. Prior to this, few doctors or their assistants practiced the procedure of washing their hands and
In 1995, the centennial of the death of Louis Pasteur, the New York Times ran an article titled "Pasteur's
Deception". After having thoroughly read Pasteur's lab notes, the science historianGerald L. Geison declared
that Pasteur had given a misleading account of the preparation of the anthrax vaccine used in the experiment
at Pouilly-le-Fort.[14] Max Perutz published a vigorous defense of Pasteur in the New York Review of Books.[15]
Faith and spirituality
Although his grandson, Louis Pasteur Vallery-Radot, wrote that Pasteur had only kept from his Catholic
background a spiritualism without religious practice,[16] Catholic observers often said that Louis Pasteur
remained throughout his whole life an ardent Christian, and his son-in-law, in perhaps the most complete
biography of Louis Pasteur, writes:
“ Absolute faith in God and in Eternity, and a conviction that the power for good given to us in this world will be continued beyond it, were feelings which pervaded his whole life; the virtues of the gospel had ever been present to him. Full of respect for the form of religion which had been that of his forefathers, he came simply to it and naturally for spiritual help in these last weeks of his life.[17] ”
Maurice Vallery-Radot, grandson of the brother of the son-in-law of Pasteur and outspoken Catholic, also holds
that Pasteur fundamentally remained Catholic.[18] According to both Pasteur Vallery-Radot and Maurice Vallery-
Radot, the well-known quotation attributed to Pasteur: "The more I know, the more nearly is my faith that of the
Breton peasant. Could I but know all I would have the faith of a Breton peasant's wife."[2] is apocryphal.[19]
Principal works
Pasteur's principal works are: "Etudes sur le Vin", (1866); "Etudes sur le Vinaigre" (1868); "Etudes sur la
Maladie des Vers à Soie" (2 vols., 1870); "Quelques Réflexions sur la Science en France" (1871); "Etudes sur
la Bière" (1876); "Les Microbes organisés, leur rôle dans la Fermentation, la Putréfaction et la Contagion"
(1878); "Discours de Réception de M.L. Pasteur à l'Académie Française" (1882); "Traitement de la Rage"
Louis Pasteur with tribute paid to him as a benefactor of humanity.
The Welcome Institute, London.
WHO WAS LOUIS PASTEUR?
Louis Pasteur was a world renowned French chemist and biologist. He was born on December 27 1822 in the town of Dole in Eastern France. Pasteur's parents were peasants, his father was a tanner by trade. He spent the early days of his life in the small town of Arbois where he attended school and where it seems that Pasteur did not do very well, preferring instead to go fishing. His headmaster, however, spotted potential in Pasteur and encouraged him to go to Paris to study. So, aged fifteen Pasteur set off for Paris hoping to study for his entrance exams. Unfortunately, the young Pasteur was so homesick that his father had to travel to Paris to bring him home. He then continued to study locally at Besancon, until he decided to try again in Paris. This time he succeeded and went on to study at the Ecole Normale Superieure. Curiously, although the young Pasteur worked hard during his student days he was not considered to be exceptional in any way at chemistry.
In 1847 Pasteur was awarded his doctorate and then took up a post as assistant to one of his teachers. He spent several years teaching and carrying out research at Dijon and Strasbourg and in 1854 moved to the University of Lille where he became professor of
chemistry. Here he continued the work on fermentation he had already started at Strasbourg. By 1857 Pasteur had become world famous and took up a post at the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris. In 1863 he became dean of the new science faculty at Lille University. While there, he started evening classes for workers. In 1867 a laboratory was established for his discovery of the rabies vaccine, using public funds. It became known as the Pasteur Institute and was headed by Pasteur until his death in 1895.
SO WHAT DID PASTEUR ACTUALLY DO?
Pasteur founded the science of microbiology and proved that most infectious diseases are caused by micro-organisms. This became known as the "germ theory" of disease. He was the inventor of the process of pasteurisation and also developed vaccines for several diseases including rabies. The discovery of the vaccine for rabies led to the founding of the Pasteur Institute in Paris in 1888.
SO HOW DID PASTEUR MAKE HIS DISCOVERIES?
When he was only twenty-six years old Pasteur solved a problem that had been puzzling the great chemists of the day. He found that when light was passed through tartaric acid - this was found in wine dregs, it produced a strange effect. Pasteur proved that this was because the acid is actually not one acid but a mixture of different acids. This find impressed the scientists of influence and established Pasteur's reputation.
While at the University of Strasbourg he became interested in fermentation and this interest continued when he moved to the University of Lille. The faculty had been established partly to serve as a means of applying science to the problems of the industries of the region, especially the production of alcoholic drinks. This work in fermentation enabled Pasteur to identify that the changes brought about when beer or wine ferments, milk turns sour or meat decays, occur when special micro-organisms are present.
As a result of these findings Pasteur was asked to help the local breweries where the beer had turned bad. The souring of wine and beer was a major economic problem in France. Pasteur looked at some droplets of bad beer through a microscope and observed that the beer contained small rod shaped bacteria, instead of round yeast cells. Although micro-organisms are essential in fermentation they must be the right ones. This was a major discovery. Pasteur made brewing a more scientific procedure and showed brewers how to culture the right organisms for good beer. He also demonstrated to the wine industry that if wine is gently heated to sixty degrees celsius for a short time, the growth of harmful bacteria is prevented and the wine does not go sour in bottles or barrels.
Pasteur then extended this to other problems such as the souring of milk. He proposed heating the milk to a high temperature and pressure before bottling. The process is now in widespread use and is called pasteurisation.
WHAT OTHER DISCOVERIES DID PASTEUR MAKE?
By 1857 Pasteur had become world famous and took up an appointment as director of scientific studies at the Ecole Normale in Paris. He was asked to help to investigate a serious disease that was ruining the silk industry in southern France. The disease known as pebrine attacked the silk worms. The signs of the disease were that the eggs did not hatch or the worms would die before making their silk cocoons. It had now reached epidemic proportions and even disease free worms brought in from Spain and Italy had been contaminated. By 1864 there were no uncontaminated eggs left, except for those brought in from Japan.
Pasteur observed through his microscope that the diseased caterpillars and eggs all contained tiny organisms. He identified these as disease producing organisms. He managed to obtain some healthy worms and he divided them into two lots. He fed one lot with mulberry leaves smeared with the remains of diseased worms and fed the others with mulberry leaves smeared with the remains of healthy worms. Pasteur was able to show that the worms fed on diseased smeared leaves got the disease, whereas those fed on
uncontaminated leaves remained disease free. He then worked with the silk industry to devise a simple way of keeping silk worms under healthy conditions and therefore disease free.
Not only had Pasteur rescued the French silk industry but he had established the connection between bacteria and disease. The connection had not been fully understood before.
This was a major discovery.
Pasteur's work on the link between bacteria and disease came to the attention of the famous Edinburgh surgeon Lord Lister. Lord Lister was concerned with the number of people who died after having operations in hospital. To combat infection, Lister introduced disinfectant sprays during operations, these prevented bacteria from entering a wound. He also introduced the use of dressings soaked in carbolic acid and strict hygiene rules to combat sepsis. The sterile methods introduced by Lister, drastically reduced the number of hospital deaths.
In France at that time many cattle suffered from anthrax, a serious disease from which many of them died. Pasteur made a careful study of anthrax and noticed that some cows developed the disease more severely than others. So he decided to inject two cows with a strong dose of the anthrax bacteria, fully expecting them to die. To Pasteur's amazement neither of them developed the disease. Later, he found that both animals had already suffered from anthrax. Could they be immune to it? Could they be protected in some other way? Pasteur believed that if it were possible to give an animal a mild attack, this might be sufficient to prevent it from getting the disease later on.
Eventually, after many experiments Pasteur succeeded in producing a weakened and harmless culture of anthrax bacteria. He inoculated cattle and sheep with this giving them a mild form from which they recovered. When these animals were put with others who had a severe form they remained unaffected. They were immune.
Pasteur worked throughout the rest of his life on the various causes of diseases and how these could be prevented by vaccination.
PASTEUR AND RABIES
Pasteur is particularly renowned for his work on the vaccine for rabies, a highly contagious infection which attacks the central nervous system. It enters the body through the bite of an infected animal or through infected saliva entering an existing wound. After experimenting with the saliva of animals suffering from the disease, Pasteur concluded that the disease rests in the central nervous system of the body. When an extract from the spinal column of an rabid dog was injected into healthy animals symptoms of rabies were produced. By studying the tissues of infected animals- rabbits, Pasteur was able to produce an attenuated form of the virus. This could be used for inoculation.
On July 6 1885, Pasteur tested his pioneering rabies vaccine on man for the first time. He saved the life of a young man called Joseph Meister who had been bitten by a rabid dog. Pasteur was urged to treat him with his new method. The treatment lasted 10 days and at the end he recovered and remained healthy. Since then thousands have been saved by this treatment.
On March 1886, Pasteur was invited to present his results to the Academy of Sciences and in 1888 went on to found the Pasteur Institute in Paris. This was a pioneering clinic for the study of infectious diseases, the treatment of rabies and a centre for teaching. Pasteur directed the Institute personally until he died. The Pasteur Institute is still one of the most important centres in the world.
Pasteur became a national hero and was honoured in many ways. He died at Saint-Cloud on 28 September 1895 and was given a state funeral at the Cathedral of Notre Dame and his body placed in a permanent crypt at the Pasteur Institute.
Modifications of the Pasteur method are still used in rabies therapy today. The traditional vaccine contains inactivated rabies virus grown in duck eggs. A newer vaccine which contains virus prepared from human cells grown in the laboratory is safer and requires a shorter course of injections.