Louis Pasteur
Louis Pasteur (December 27, 1822 – September 28, 1895) was a French chemist andmicrobiologist who was one of the most important founders of medical microbiology. 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 first vaccines 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 treat milk and wine in order to prevent it from causing sickness, a process that came to be calledpasteurization. He is regarded as one of the three main founders of microbiology, together with Ferdinand Cohn and Robert Koch.
Pasteur also made many discoveries in the field of chemistry, most notably the molecular basis for the asymmetry of certaincrystals. His body lies beneath the Institute Pasteur in Paris in a spectacular vault covered in depictions of his accomplishments inByzantine mosaics.
Early life
The house in which Pasteur was born, Dole
Louis Pasteur was born on December 27, 1822, in Dole in the Jura region of France, into the family of a poor tanner. Louis grew up in the town of Arbois. This fact probably instilled in the younger Pasteur the strong patriotism that later was a defining element of his character. Louis Pasteur was an average student in his early years, but he was gifted in drawing and painting
Research career
Molecular asymmetry
In Pasteur's early work as a chemist, he resolved a problem concerning the nature of tartaric acid(1848). A solution of this compound derived from living things (specifically, wine lees) rotated the plane of polarization of light passing through it. The mystery was that tartaric acid derived by chemical synthesis had no such effect, even though its chemical reactions were identical and its elemental composition was the same. This was the first time anyone had demonstrated chiralmolecules.
Pasteur's doctoral thesis on crystallography attracted the attention of W. T. Fuillet, and he helped Pasteur garner a position of professor of chemistry at the Faculté (College) of Strasbourg.
In 1854, Pasteur was named Dean