HISTORY OF MICROBIOLOGY

• That is to say life was thought to spring

DISCOVERY OF MICROBES AND THE DAWN OF
spontaneously from mud and lakes or anywhere
MICROBIOLOGY
with sufficient nutrients.
• Microbiology is the study of living organisms of • This concept was so compelling that it persisted
microscopic size. until late into the 19th century.
• The term microbiology was given by French • The main aspects were to solve the controversy
chemist Louis Pasteur (1822-95). over spontaneous generation which includes
• Microbiology is said to have its roots in the great experimentations mainly of Francesco Redi, John
expansion and development of the biological Needham, Lazzaro Spallanzani and Nicolas
sciences that took place after 1850. Appert etc and to know the disease transmission
• The term microbe was first used by Sedillot which mainly includes the work of Ignaz
(1878). Semmelweis and John Snow.

THE DISCOVERY ERA FRANCESCO REDI (1626-1697)

• Robert Hooke, a 17th-century English scientist, − The ancient belief in spontaneous generation
was the first to use a lens to observe the smallest was first of all challenged by Redi, an Italian
unit of tissues he called “cells.” physician, who carried out a series of
• Dutch amateur biologist Anton van experiments on decaying meat and its ability to
Leeuwenhoek observed what he called produce maggots spontaneously.
“animalcules” with the use of his homemade
microscopes.

ANTOINE VAN LEEUWENHOEK (1632-1723)

− First person to observe and accurately describe

microorganisms (bacteria and protozoa) called
‘animalcules’ (little animals) in 1676.
− Actually, he was a Dutch linen merchant but
spent much of his spare time constructing simple
microscopes composed of double convex lenses
held between two silver plates. He constructed
over 250 small powerful microscopes that could
magnify around 50-300 times. JOHN NEEDHAM (1713-1781)
− Leeuwenhoek was the first person to produce − He was probably the greatest supporter of the
precise and correct descriptions of bacteria and theory of spontaneous generation.
protozoa using a microscope he made himself. − He proposed that tiny organisms the animalcules
Because of this extraordinary contribution to arose spontaneously on his mutton gravy.
microbiology, he is considered as the “Father of − He covered the flasks with cork as done by Redi
microbiology”. and even heated some flasks. Still the microbes
− Leeuwenhoek is also considered to be the father appeared on mutton broth.
of bacteriology and protozoology (protistology).

TRANSITION PERIOD

• When microorganisms were known to exist,

most scientists believed that such simple life
forms could surely arise through spontaneous
generation.
 IGNAZ SEMMELWEIS AND JOHN SNOW

− Were the two persons who showed a growing

awareness of the mode of disease transmission.

LAZZARO SPALLANZANI (1729-1799)

− He was an Italian Naturalist who attempted to

refute Needham’s experiment.
− He boiled beef broth for longer period, removed
the air from the flask and then sealed the
container. GEORGE SCHROEDER AND THEODOR VON DUSCH
− Followed incubation no growth was observed by (1857)
him in these flasks. − Were the first to introduce the idea of using
− He showed that the heated nutrients could still cotton plugs for plugging microbial culture tubes.
grow animalcules when exposed to air by simply
making a small crack in the neck.
− Thus, Spallanzani disproved the doctrine of THE GOLDEN AGE
spontaneous generation.
• The Golden age of microbiology began with the
work of Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch who had
their own research institute.
• More important there was an acceptance of
their work by the scientific community
throughout the world and a willingness to
continue and expand the work.
• During this period, we see the real beginning of
microbiology as a discipline of biology.

LOUIS PASTEUR

− In an inspired set of experiments involving a

NICOLAS APPERT goosenecked flask. When he boiled broth in a
flask with a straight neck and left it exposed to
− Followed the idea of Spallanzani’s work.
air, organisms grew. When he did this with his
− He was a French wine maker who showed that
goose-necked flask, nothing grew. The S-shape
soups and liquids can be preserved by heating
of this second flask trapped dust particles from
them extensively in thick champagne bottles.
the air, preventing them from reaching the
broth. By showing that he could allow air to get
into the flask but not the particles in the air,
Pasteur proved that it was the organisms in the
dust that were growing in the broth.
− Pasteur, thus in 1857 finally resolved the
controversy of spontaneous generation versus
biogenesis and proved that microorganisms are
 not spontaneously generated from inanimate ROBERT KOCH
matter but arise from other microorganisms.
− Was working on finding the causes of some very
− Louis Pasteur is known as the “Father of Modern
nasty animal diseases (first anthrax, second
Microbiology / Father of Bacteriology”
tuberculosis).
− He gave the first direct demonstration of the role
of bacteria causing disease.
− He was a German physician who first of all
isolated anthrax bacillus (Bacillus anthracis, the
cause of anthrax) in 1876.
− He perfected the technique of isolating bacteria
in pure culture. He also introduced the use of
solid culture media in 1881 by using gelatin as a
solidifying agent.
− In 1882 he discovered Mycobacterium
tuberculosis.
− He proposed Koch postulate which were
published in 1884 and are the corner stone of the
germ theory of diseases and are still in use today
to prove the etiology (specific cause) of an
JOHN TYNDALL (1820-1893)
infectious disease.
− He conducted experiments in an aseptically
KOCH’S 4 POSTULATES
designed box to prove that dust indeed carried
the germs. He demonstrated that if no dust was 1. The organism causing the disease can be found
present, sterile broth remained free of microbial in sick individuals but not in healthy ones.
growth for indefinite period even if it was 2. The organism can be isolated and grown in pure
directly exposed to air. He discovered highly culture.
resistant bacterial structure, later known as 3. The organism must cause the disease when it is
endospore, in the infusion of hay. Prolonged introduced into a healthy animal.
boiling or intermittent heating was necessary to 4. The organism must be recovered from the
kill these spores, to make the infusion infected animal and shown to be the same as the
completely sterilized, a process known as organism that was introduced.
Tyndallisation.
GERM THEORY OF DISEASE

− Established by the combined efforts of many

scientists and most importantly Louis Pasteur
and Robert Koch
− The idea that invisible microorganisms are the
cause of disease is called germ theory.
− This was another of the important contributions
of Pasteur to microbiology.
− It emerged not only from his experiments
disproving spontaneous generation but also
from his search for the infectious organism
(typhoid) that caused the deaths of three of his
daughters.
FANNE EILSHEMIUS HESSE (1850 – 1934) − Joseph Lister was the first to introduce aseptic
techniques for control of microbes by the use of
− First proposed the use of agar in culture media
physical and chemical agents which are still in
− Richard Petri in 1887 developed the Petri dish
use today.
− Contribution of Robert Koch, Fannie Hesse and
− Known as the father of antiseptic surgery.
Richard Petri made possible the isolation of pure
cultures of microorganisms and directly
stimulated progress in all areas of microbiology.
DEVELOPMENT OF VACCINES

• Vaccination was discovered before germ theory,

but it wasn’t fully understood until the time of
Pasteur.
• In the late 18th century, milkmaids who
contracted the nonlethal cowpox sickness from
the cows they were milking were spared in
deadly smallpox outbreaks that ravaged England
periodically.
• The physician Edward Jenner used pus from
cowpox scabs to vaccinate people against
smallpox.
DEVELOPMENT IN MEDICINE AND SURGERY
EDWARD JENNER (1749-1823)
• Once scientists knew that microbes caused
disease, it was only a matter of time before − An English physician was the first to prevent
medical practices improved dramatically. small pox.
• Surgery used to be as dangerous as not doing − He was impressed by the observation that
anything at all, but once aseptic (sterile) countryside milk maid who contacted cowpox
technique was introduced, recovery rates (Cowpox is a milder disease caused by a virus
improved dramatically. closely related to small pox) while milking was
• Hand washing and quarantine of infected subsequently immune to small pox.
patients reduced the spread of disease and made − On May 14th, 1796 he proved that inoculating
hospitals into a place to get treatment instead of people with pus from cowpox lesions provided
a place to die. protection against small pox.
− Jenner in 1798, published his results on 23
LORD JOSEPH LISTER (1827-1912)
successful vaccinators. Eventually this process
− A famous English surgeon is known for his was known as vaccination, based on the Latin
notable contribution to the antiseptic treatment word ‘Vacca’ meaning cow.
for the prevention and cure of wound infections.
ELIE METCHNIKOFF (1845-1916)
− Lister concluded that wound infections too were
due to microorganisms. − Proposed the phagocytic theory of immunity in
− In 1867, he developed a system of antiseptic 1883.
surgery designed to prevent microorganisms − He discovered that some blood leukocytes,
from entering wounds by the application of white blood cells (WBC) protect against disease
phenol on surgical dressings and at times it was by engulfing disease-causing bacteria.
sprayed over the surgical areas. − These cells were called phagocytes and the
− He also devised a method to destroy process phagocytosis.
microorganisms in the operation theatre by − Human blood cells also confer immunity,
spraying a fine mist of carbolic acid into the air, referred to as cellular immunity.
thus producing an antiseptic environment.
DEVELOPMENT OF CHEMOTHERAPEUTICS, ANTITOXINS SELMAN WAKSMAN
AND ANTIBIOTICS
− Discovered another antibiotic, streptomycin
EMILE ROUX (1853-1933) AND ALEXANDRE YERSIN produced by two strains of actinomycete,
Streptomyces griseus in 1944. Waksman
− The two notable French bacteriologists
received the noble prize in 1952 for his discovery
demonstrated the production of toxin in filtrates
of Streptomycin used in the treatment of
of broth cultures of the diphtheria organism.
tuberculosis, a bacterial disease caused by
PAUL EHRLICH (1854-1915) Mycobacterium tuberculosis that had been
discovered by Robert Koch in 1882.
− In 1904 found that the dye Trypan Red was active
against the trypanosome that causes African
sleeping sickness and could be used
therapeutically.
− This dye with antimicrobial activity was referred
to as a ‘magic bullet’.
− Subsequently in 1910, Ehrlich in collaboration
with Sakahiro Hata, a japanese physician,
introduced the drug Salvarsan (arsenobenzol) as
a treatment for syphilis caused by Treponema
pallidum.

GERHARD DOMAGK

− In 1935 experimented with numerous synthetic

dyes and reported that Prontosil, a red dye used
for staining leather, was active against
pathogenic, Streptococci and
− Staphylococci in mice even though it had no
effect against that same infectious agent in a test
tube.
− In the same year two French scientists Jacques
and Therese Trefonel showed that the
compound Prontosil was broken down within
the body of the animal to sulfanilamide (Sulfa
drug) the true active factor.
− Domagk was awarded nobel prize in 1939 for the
discovery of the first sulpha drug.

ALEXANDER FLEMING

− a Scottish physician and bacteriologist. Fleming

had been actually interested in searching
something that would kill pathogens ever since
working on wound infections during the first
world war (1914-1918).
− Antibiotics were discovered completely by
accident in the 1920s, when a solid culture in a
Petri dish (called a plate) of bacteria was left to
sit around longer than usual.