0
edits
Changes
From Opengenome.net
no edit summary
<p> </p>
<h2><span class="mw-headline">History</span></h2>
<p>Based on a <a href="javascript:void(0);/*12367534150681236753462583*/">research paper</a>, bacteria were first observed by Anton van Leeuwenhoek in 1676 using a single-lens microscope of his own design. The name "bacterium" was introduced much later, by Ehrenberg in 1828, derived from the Greek word βακτηριον meaning "small stick". While Antony van Leeuwenhoek is often cited as the first microbiologist, the first recorded microbiological observation, that of the fruiting bodies of molds, was made earlier in 1665 by Robert Hooke.</p>
<p>The field of <strong>bacteriology</strong> (later a subdiscipline of microbiology) is generally considered to have been founded by Ferdinand Cohn (1828-1898), a botanist whose studies on algae and photosynthetic bacteria led him to describe several bacteria including <em>Bacillus</em> and <em>Beggiatoa</em>. Ferdinand Cohn was also the first to formulate a scheme for the taxonomic classification of bacteria.</p>
<p>Louis Pasteur (1822-1895) and Robert Koch (1843-1910) were contemporaries of Cohn’s and are often considered to be the founders of <strong>medical microbiology</strong>. Pasteur is most famous for his series of experiments designed to disprove the then widely held theory of spontaneous generation, thereby solidifying microbiology’s identity as a biological science. Pasteur also designed methods for food preservation (pasteurization) and vaccines against several diseases such as anthrax, fowl cholera and rabies. Robert Koch is best known for his contributions to the germ theory of disease, proving that specific diseases were caused by specific pathogenic microorganisms. He developed a series of criteria that have become known as the Koch's postulates. Koch was one of the first scientists to focus on the isolation of bacteria in pure culture resulting in his description of several novel bacteria including <em>Mycobacterium tuberculosis</em>, the causative agent of tuberculosis.</p>
