2.1 Week 1 Topic 2 History of Microbiology 12092024 115957am

HISTORICAL REVIEW & SCOPE OF MICROBIOLOGY
Dr.NAIN TAARA SENIOR ASSISTANT PROFESSOR

Antony van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723)
 First person - Invented
microscope and discovered the
microbial world.
 Leeuwenhoek microscopes could

magnify objects about 200-300
times
ANTONY VON LEEUWENHOEK (1632-1723)
 Leeuwenhoek observed a variety of things

including rain water, pond water, blood and
scrapings from his own teeth using his own
microscope
 He saw minute moving objects which he
called “little animalcules”.
 He made accurate sketches and
communicated his findings to “Royal society
of London”.
THE THEORY OF SPONTANEOUS GENERATION
(ABIOGENESIS)
 After microbial discovery by Leewenhoek,
scientists began investigations about the
origin of microbes.
 As organic matter decomposes quickly

outside the living body, it was though that
microorganisms were arising by spontaneous
generation.
 John Needham (1749), an Irish priest -

observed the appearance of microorganisms
THE THEORY OF SPONTANEOUS GENERATION
(ABIOGENESIS)
THEORY OF BIOGENESIS
LA ZARO SPALLAZANI (1729-1799)
 Spallazani, an Italian priest -boiled beef broth for an hour,

sealed the flasks and observed no appearance of
microorganisms and disproved the theory of spontaneous
generation and proposed the theory of biogenesis.
 He said that every form of life takes its origin from their parents,
germ cells or seeds.
 This theory of biogenesis was later proved and supported by
Louis Pasteur.
THEORY OF BIOGENESIS
GOLDEN AGE OF MICROBIOLOGY
The period from 1860 to 1900 is often

named the Golden Age of Microbiology.
During this period, rapid advances,
spear-headed by Louis Pasteur and
Robert Koch, led to the establishment of
microbiology as a science.
LOUIS PASTEUR (1822-1895)
 He was a professor of chemistry at
the University of Lille, France.
 “Father of Microbiology”, as his
contributions led to the
development of microbiology as a
separate scientific discipline.
 He proved the theory of
“biogenesis” and disproved the
“Theory of spontaneous
generation” (abiogenesis)
experimentally by using swan-
necked flasks.
PASTEUR’S
EXPERIMENT
Trapped airborne organisms in cotton; he also heated the necks of

flasks, drawing them out into long curves, sterilized the media, and left
the flasks open to the air.
In this way Pasteur disproved the theory of spontaneous generation
 Working on souring of wine and beer, found that

alcohol spoilage is due to the growth of
undesirable microorganisms, while the desirable
microorganisms produce alcohol by a chemical
process called “fermentation”.
 He showed that wine did not spoil, if it is heated to
50-600C for a few minutes. This method is called
“pasteurization”, now widely used in dairy units to
kill pathogenic microorganisms in milk.
 He is a founder of “germ theory of disease”, as he
visualized that diseases are caused by
microorganisms.
 He invented steam sterilizer, autoclave and

hot air oven and also established the
importance of cotton wool plugs for
protection of culture media from aerial
contamination.
 He differentiated between aerobic and
anaerobic bacteria and coined the term
“anaerobic” to refer to the organisms that
do not require oxygen for growth.
 He developed the process of

“attenuation”, during his work
on “chicken cholera” in fowls.
He found old cultures would
not kill the animals as fresh
cultures did. This attenuation is
now used in protective
vaccination against diseases.
 Pasteur showed that the

anthrax disease in cattle and
sheep is caused by a bacterium.
He cultivated anthrax organisms
in sterile yeast water, and
showed that these cultures can
produce disease when
inoculated into healthy animals.
 He developed a live
attenuated anthrax vaccine
by incubation at 40-420C,
Anthrax bacillus
 Pasteur developed a vaccine against rabies

(hydrophobia), which made greatest impact in
medicine. He obtained the causative agent of rabies
by serial intracerebral passage in rabbits and the
vaccine was prepared by drying pieces of spinal
cord.
 In 1888, Pasteur Institute was established for
mass antirabic treatment.
 Pasteur gave the general term “vaccine”
(vacca=cow) in honour of Jenner’s cowpox
vaccine, to various materials used to induce
active immunity.
Louis Pasteur
1822 – 1895
*Developed the germ

theory in 1798
*Also developed vaccine
against anthrax.
*Pasteurization technique
*Developed the germ theory
of disease
“Father of Bacteriology and Immunology”

ROBERT KOCH (1843-1912)
 He discovered rod shaped organisms in the blood of animals that
died of anthrax. He experimentally obtained the anthrax

organisms in pure culture on a depression slide by inoculation of
infected blood into the aqueous humour of a bullock’s eye. He
observed multiplication of bacteria and spore formation. He
injected these spores into mice and reproduced the disease.
 He found that in certain conditions, the anthrax bacillus forms
spores, which can survive on earth for years. He passed anthrax

bacilli, from the blood of an infected animal, from one mouse to
another through 20 generations, and found that they bred true.
He worked out its life history.
KOCH’S
POSTULATES
1.Pathogen
must be present
in diseased
site.
5.Reisolation
2.Isolation in
pure culture
3.Inoculation in
animal
4. Reproduce the
disease
Henle-Koch’s Postulates
1.A specific organism should be found

constantly in association with the
disease.
2.The organism should be isolated
and grown in a pure culture in the
laboratory.
3.The pure culture when inoculated
into a healthy susceptible animal
should produce symptoms/lesions
of the same disease.
4.From the inoculated animal, the
microorganisms should be isolated
in pure culture.
5.An additional criterion introduced is
JOSEPH LISTER (1827-1912)
 He is popularly known as
“Father of antiseptic
surgery”.
 He was a professor of
surgery at University of
Glasgow and Edinburg
and later at King’s college,
London.
 He was deeply interested in
the prevention of
postoperative sepsis. He
was attracted by Pasteur’s
germ theory of disease
and concluded that sepsis
or wound infection may be
due to microbial growth
ALEXANDER FLEMMING (1881-1955)
ALEXANDER FLEMMING (1881-
1955)
 He was an English scientist who worked at St. Mary’s hospital in
London.
 Flemming was associated with two major discoveries –
Lysozyme and Penicillin.

 In 1922, he discovered lysozyme by demonstrating that the nasal
secretion has the power of dissolving or lysing certain kinds of

bacteria. Subsequently, he showed that lysozyme was present in
many tissues of the body.
ALEXANDER FLEMMING
(1881-1955)
 In 1929, Flemming made an accidental discovery that the fungus Penicillin
notatum produces an antibacterial substance, which he called penicillin.

 Flemming was culturing Staphylococci in petridishes and
some of his cultures were contaminated with a

mold, subsequently identified as Penicillium notatum. Around the mold
colony, there were clear zones, where Staphylococci disappeared.
Fleming attributed this to the production of an antibacterial substance
by the mold.
 Flemming cultured the fungus Penicillin notatum in broth cultures,
filtered the fungal mat and obtained the penicillin in soluble form in the
culture filtrate.
• Edward Jenner (1796)
EDWARD JENNER (1749-
1823)
 Edward jenner was an English physician, who
discovered a safe and efficient vaccination against

small pox, which ultimately led to the eradication of
small pox (variola).
 Jenner observed that diary workers, exposed to
occupational cowpox infection, was immune to

smallpox.
He proved experimentally that resistance to smallpox
can be induced by injecting cowpox material
(vaccinia) from disease pustules into man (in 1796).
EDWARD JENNER (1749-1823)
 Pasteur gave the general term “vaccine”
(vacca=cow) in honour of Jenner’s

cowpox vaccine, to various materials
used to induce active immunity.
 Jenner published his findings in 1798
in a
pamphlet “An inquiry into the cause and
effect of variola vaccine”.
PAUL EHRLICH (1854-
1915)
 He was a German bacteriologist, who pioneered the technique
of chemotherapy in medicine.
 From his discovery that certain tissues have a specific affinity, he
reasoned that organisms causing diseases could be selectively

killed with chemical drugs. This led him to produce
“arsphenamine” (an arsenic compound), the first synthetic drug,
which destroyed the syphilis microbe in the body.
WATSON and CRICK, FRANKLIN, and
WILKINS
In 1953 Watson and Crick determined the structure of DNA.

They used their research, together with the research of
Franklin and Wilkins to determine the structure of the DNA
molecule.

2.1 Week 1 Topic 2 History of Microbiology 12092024 115957am

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

2.1 Week 1 Topic 2 History of Microbiology 12092024 115957am

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

2.1 Week 1 Topic 2 History of Microbiology 12092024 115957am

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

HISTORICAL REVIEW & SCOPE OF MICROBIOLOGY

Dr.NAIN TAARA SENIOR ASSISTANT PROFESSOR

 Leeuwenhoek microscopes could

 Leeuwenhoek observed a variety of things

 As organic matter decomposes quickly

 John Needham (1749), an Irish priest -

 Spallazani, an Italian priest -boiled beef broth for an hour,

The period from 1860 to 1900 is often

Trapped airborne organisms in cotton; he also heated the necks of

 Working on souring of wine and beer, found that

 He invented steam sterilizer, autoclave and

 He developed the process of

 Pasteur showed that the

 Pasteur developed a vaccine against rabies

*Developed the germ

“Father of Bacteriology and Immunology”

died of anthrax. He experimentally obtained the anthrax

spores, which can survive on earth for years. He passed anthrax

1.A specific organism should be found

 He was an English scientist who worked at St. Mary’s hospital in

Lysozyme and Penicillin.

secretion has the power of dissolving or lysing certain kinds of

notatum produces an antibacterial substance, which he called penicillin.

some of his cultures were contaminated with a

discovered a safe and efficient vaccination against

occupational cowpox infection, was immune to

(vacca=cow) in honour of Jenner’s

reasoned that organisms causing diseases could be selectively

In 1953 Watson and Crick determined the structure of DNA.

You might also like