Important People/Highlights #1

Ernst Ruska

constructed the first electron microscope

W. Gilbert and F. Sanger

developed a method to sequence DNA

Jonas Salk

developed polio vaccine

Christian Gram

developed the gram stain which divides the bacteria into gram positive and gram negative categories based on cell wall structure

Alexander Fleming

discovered penicillin

Paul Ehrlich

discovered the acid fast stain to identify Mycobacterium tuberculosis, discovered the cure for syphilis (magic bullet "606", arsenic compound)

Dmitri Ivanovski

discovered the agent known as a virus

Louis Pasteur

disproved spontaneous generation, saved the French wine industry by developing pasteurization process, developed the first rabies vaccination

John Snow

father epidemiology, worked on epidemiology of cholera

Anton von Leeuwenhoek

first microbiologist, made over 500 microscopes, discovered bacteria and other microscopic organisms

Edward Jenner

first scientific smallpox vaccination

Robert Koch

founder of clinical bacteriology, developed pure culture techniques, simple staining techniques

R. J. Petri

invented the petri dish to isolate microbes

Pure culture techniques

isolating microbes by repeatedly systematically streaking them over agar in a Petri dish

Germ theory

microbes are causative agents of disease

Joseph Lister

practiced antiseptic surgery by spraying carbolic acid on surgical instruments, wounds, and dressings

Hans and Zacharias Hansen

produced the first microscope

Ignatz Semmelweis

proved that hand washing stops the spread of disease

Walter Reed

proved the mosquitoes carried the yellow fever virus

Martinus Beijerinck

recognized viral dependence on cells for reproduction

Francesco Redi

refuted idea of spontaneous generation

Gram positive cell

thick cell wall

Gram negative cell

thin cell wall

Pasteurization process

A process of heating a food, which is usually a liquid, to a specific temperature for a predefined length of time and then immediately cooling it to slow spoilage due to microbial growth in the food.

Use of knowing Gram positive vs. Gram negative

can tell physician how to treat a patient/what kind of causative agent is infecting