Introduction to Microbiology History

Introduction: Brief History of Microbiology

• Learning Outcome: Students will enumerate notable microbiologists and their contributions to bacteriology.
• Date: 1/10/2025

The First Observations

• Lucretius (98-55 B.C.) and Girolamo Fracastoro (1478-1553): Suggested diseases were caused by invisible living creatures.
• Francesco Stelluti (1577-1652): Made the earliest observations of bees and weevils, using a telescope supplied by Galileo.
• Robert Hooke: Reported life's smallest structural units as "little boxes," or cells, marking the beginning of understanding living things.

Micrographia: Hooke's Microscope (1665)

• Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723): First to observe live microorganisms through magnifying lenses. Made detailed drawings of microorganisms from rainwater, feces, and teeth scrapings.

Bacteria, Protozoa, Sperm Cells, Blood Cells, Microscopic Worms

• Discovered various microscopic organisms.

Theory of Biogenesis

• Aristotle (384-322 B.C.): Simple invertebrates could arise from spontaneous generation.
• Francesco Redi (1626-1697): Showed maggots did not arise spontaneously from decaying meat, one of the first to suggest life arose from rather than nonliving material.
• John Needham (1731-1781): Observed boiled mutton broth became cloudy after pouring it into a tightly sealed flask, concluded life arose spontaneously.
• Lazzaro Spallanzani (1729-1799): Showed heated fluids sealed in a flask did not develop microbial growth.
• Anton Laurent Lavoisier (1743-1794): Showed the importance of air to life.
• Rudolf Virchow (1821-1902): Challenged spontaneous generation with the concept of Biogenesis and formulated the doctrine "Omnis cellula e cellula" (all cells come from cells).
• Theodor Schwann (1810-1882): No growth occurred in a flask allowing air to pass through a heated tube.
• Heinrich Schroder (1810-1885) and Theodore von Dusch (1824-1890): Sterilized air by passing it through a filter, removing microorganisms, preventing microbial growth in sterile media.

Louis Pasteur (1822-1895)

• Disproved the doctrine of spontaneous generation, demonstrating that microorganisms are present in air and can contaminate sterile solutions but do not create microbes.
• Showed that microorganisms can be present in non-living matter.
• Demonstrated that microbial life can be destroyed by heat.

John Tyndall (1820-1893)

• Showed that dust carries germs that could contaminate a sterile broth
• Developed "Tyndallization" - heating a liquid to boiling point, cooling, and then reheating.

The Golden Age of Microbiology (1857-1914)

• Theodor Schwann: Stated yeast cells are responsible for the conversion of sugars to alcohol.

• Louis Pasteur: Found microorganisms called yeasts convert sugars into alcohol in the absence of air.

• Fermentation and Pasteurization

Germ Theory of Disease

• Agostino Bassi: Proved that another silkworm disease was caused by a fungus.
• Ignaz Semmelweis (1816–1865): Handwashing can prevent the spread of disease.
• Joseph Lister (1827-1912): Introduced antiseptic surgery, applying the germ theory to medical procedures. Used phenol solution to treat surgical wounds.

Robert Koch (1843-1910)

• First to irrefutably prove bacteria caused disease, discovered anthrax in cattle blood.
• Established 4 postulates to link a specific microbe to a specific disease.

Collaborators of Koch

• Fanny Hesse (1850-1934): Suggested agar for solidifying culture media.
• Julius Richard Petri (1852-1921): Developed the Petri dish.
• Martinus Beijerink, Sergei Winogradsky: Developed enrichment-culture technique and use of selective media.

Immunology: Advent of Vaccination

• Edward Jenner (1749-1823): Introduced the concept of vaccination to prevent smallpox. Physicians in China immunized patients by grinding smallpox scales into powder and inserting it into the nose.

Louis Pasteur (1822-1895) and PierrePaul Emile Roux (1853-1933)

• Used the term vaccine for attenuated cultures.
• Developed attenuated strains of bacteria to prove their safety.
• Attenuated strains, when introduced to healthy hosts, kept them safe from virulent strains.

Charles Chamberland (1851-1908)

Created a porcelain bacterial filter and developed the anthrax vaccine along with Pasteur.

Emil von Behring (1854-1917)

Prepared and described immune system cells.

Elie Metchnikoff (1845-1916)

• First to describe the immune system cells and processes.

The Birth of Modern Chemotherapy: Dreams of a "Magic Bullet"

• Chemotherapy: Treatment of diseases using chemical substances, includes cancer treatment.
• Antibiotics: Naturally produced chemicals by bacteria and fungi that act against other microorganisms.
• Synthetic Drugs: Chemotherapeutic agents prepared from lab chemicals.
• Paul Ehrlich (1854-1915): Speculated about a "magic bullet" to hunt down pathogens without harming the host. Found an arsenic derivative.
• Selman Waksman (1888-1973): Discovered streptomycin and neomycin, considered the "Father of Antibiotics."

A Fortunate Accident- Antibiotics

• Alexander Fleming (1881-1955): Accidentally discovered mold (Penicillium).
• Howard Florey (1898-1968) and Ernst Chain (1906-1979): Purified penicillin, performed trials on humans.
• Edward Abraham (1913-1999): First to propose the correct biochemical structure of penicillin.

Many Additional Important Scientists and Discoveries (Page 20 & 21):

• Extensive list of Nobel laureates; their countries of origin; years of contribution; and the contributions made in microbiology and related fields. More detail about their work is provided in the original text.

Explore the foundational concepts in microbiology through key historical figures and their groundbreaking discoveries. This quiz covers contributions from ancient philosophers to modern microbiologists, highlighting essential advancements in our understanding of microscopic life.