History of microbiology

The foundations of microbiology were established in the later 19th century, with the work of Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch. Since then, many disease-causing microorganisms have been identified and means of controlling their harmful effects have been developed. In addition, means of channeling the activities of various microorganisms to benefit medicine, industry, and agriculture have been discovered. Molds, for example, produce antibiotics, notably penicillin. See also bacteriology, genetic engineering.

## Timeline of Microbiology Discoveries[edit]

The chief discoveries of microbiology took place in a period starting in the 1500s.

Date  |  Event

|

1546  |  Italian physician Girolamo Fracastoro suggests that invisible organisms may cause disease.
1665  |  Robert Hooke publishes his discovery of cells in cork.
1676  |  Antony van Leeuwenhoek observes bacteria and protozoa using his homemade microscope.
1717  |  Mary Wortley Montagu introduced the smallpox vaccination to England from Turkey.
1767  |  Lazzaro Spallanzani helped dispute the theory of spontaneous generation.
1796  |  Edward Jenner introduces a vaccination procedure for smallpox.
1838-1839  |  Mathias Schleiden and Theodor Schwann independently propose that all organisms are composed of cells, the basic unit of life.
1840  |  J. Henle presents a clear exposition of the germ theory of disease.
1847-1850  |  Ignaz Semelweis demonstrates that puerperal or childbed fever is a contagious disease transmitted by physicians to their patients during childbirth.
1853  |  Heinrich Anton deBary noted that plant disease is caused by bacteria.
1853-1854  |  John Snow demonstrates the epidemic spread of cholera through a water supply contaminated with human sewage.
1857  |  Louis Pasteurdemonstrates that yeast can degrade sugar to ethanol and carbon dioxide and multiply in the process.
1861  |  Louis Pasteur publishes experiments that refute the theory of spontaneous generation.
1864  |  Louis Pasteur develops pasteurization as a method to destroy unwanted organisms in wine.
1866  |  Gregor Mendel published results of experiments on the laws of inheritance, thus establishing the science of genetics.
1867  |  Joseph Lister publishes the first work on antiseptic surgery, beginning the trend toward modern aseptic techniques in medicine.
1875  |  Ferdinand J. Cohn published an early classification of bacteria and first used the genus name Bacillus.
1876  |  Robert Koch demonstrates that anthrax is caused by a bacterium.
1877  |  Ferdinand J. Cohn discovered the bacterial spore and related its resistance to sterilization processes.
1881  |  Robert Koch introduces the use of pure culture techniques for handling bacteria in the laboratory.
1881  |  Walther and Fanny Hesseintroduce agar-agar as a solidifying gel for culture media.
1882  |  Koch identifies the causative agent of tuberculosis.
1884  |  Koch states Koch's postulates for determining the cause of a disease.
1884  |  Elie Metchnikoff discovers phagocytic cells and thus begins the study of immunology.
1884  |  Christian Gram publishes a paper describing the Gram stain.
1884  |  Shibasaburo Kitasatodiscovered Clostridium tetani, the causative agent of tetanus.
1884  |  Thomas J. Burrill pioneered the field of plant pathology. Discovers "fire blight" of fruit trees is caused by a bacterium.
1884  |  Erwin F. Smith, another pioneer plant pathologist, discovers "peach yellows" is caused by a virus.
1885  |  Theodor Escherich identified Escherichia coli as a natural inhabitant of the human gut.
1885  |  Louis Pasteur published his work on immunization against rabies.
1887  |  Julius Petri adapts two plates to form a container for holding media and culturing microbes - the Petri dish.
1887  |  David Bruce identified Brucella melitensis as causative agent of brucellosis in cattle.
1888  |  Martinus Beijerinck obtained a pure culture of root nodule bacterium Rhizobium and studied the process of nitrogen fixation.
1890  |  Emil von Behring developed a diphtheria antitoxin.
1890  |  Paul Ehrlich proposed a theory of immunity in which antibodies are responsible for immunity.
1890  |  Sergei Winogradsky studied nitrifying bacteria, advanced the idea of autotrophic metabolism.
1892  |  Weisman demonstrated important role of nucleus in heredity (1892).
1897  |  Paul Ehrlichformulated sidechain theory of antibody formation.
1901  |  Emil von Behring received Nobel Prize for the development of serum treatment, especially for diphtheria.
1902  |  Sir Ronald Ross receives the Nobel Prize for the discovery of the life cycle of malaria parasite in humans and mosquitoes.
1905  |  Robert Koch receives Nobel Prize for founding scientific bacteriology and proving the cause of tuberculosis.
1907  |  Charles Louis received Nobel Prize for showing protozoa are the cause of some infectious diseases.
1908  |  Paul Ehrlich develops the drug Salvarsan to treat syphilis, thereby starting the use of chemotherapy to treat diseases. Receives Nobel Prize.
1911  |  F. Peyton Rous discovers that a virus can cause cancer in chickens.
1912  |  Paul Ehrlich synthesized a "magic bullet" for syphilis.
1928  |  Frederick Griffith discovers genetic transformation in bacteria, thereby raising a key question in genetics: What chemical caused the transformation.
1929  |  Alexander Fleming discovers and describes the properties of the first antibiotic, penicillin.
1930  |  Karl Landsteiner receives the Nobel Prize for the discovery of the ABO human blood groups.
1931  |  Cornelius Van Niel pioneered work on the biochemistry of photosynthesis in sulfur bacteria.
1935  |  Gerhardt Komagk discovered sulfur drug for chemotherapy. Receives the Nobel Prize in 1939.
1941  |  Selman Waksman described production of the antibiotic actinomycin, streptothricin, cycloserines and novobiocin by actinomycetes. Receives Nobel Prize in 1952.
1941  |  George Beadleand Edward Tatum produce evidence of genetic mutants, opening the field of molecular genetics.
1944  |  Oswald Avery, Colin MacLeod, and Maclyn McCarty demonstrate that Griffith's transforming principle is DNA.
1944  |  Joshua Lederbergand Edward Tatum demonstrate that DNA can be transferred from one bacterium to another. Received Nobel Prize in 1958 with George Beadle.
1945  |  Alexander Fleming, Sir E. B. Chain and Lord H.W. Florey receive the Nobel Prize for disscovering penicillin, the first antibiotic.
1948  |  Barbara McClintock demonstrates transposable elements in maize, and almost two decades later they are discovered in bacteria.
1950  |  Elizabeth Hazen and Rachel Brown discovered antifungal nystatin.
1951  |  Max Theiler receives the Nobel Prize for developing a vaccine for yellow fever.
1953  |  James Watson, Francis Crick, Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins determine the structure of DNA. Receive Nobel Prize in 1962.
1954  |  Jonas Salk developed the first polio vaccine.
1954  |  John F. Enders, T.H. Weller and F.C. Robbins receive the Nobel Prize for growing poliovirus in cell cultures, making the polio vaccine possible.
1955  |  Polio vaccine approved by the U.S. government.
1957  |  D. Carlton Gajdusek demonstrates the slow infectious nature of the disease kuru, which is later shown to be caused by a prion.
1969  |  Max Delbruck, Alfred Hershey and Salvadore E. Luria receive Nobel Prize for describing the mechanism of viral infection of bacterial cells.
1977  |  Carl Woese classifies all life into three domains.
1980  |  A rare cancer in humans is shown to be caused by a retrovirus.
1980  |  The World Health Organization declares eradication of smallpox in the world.
1987  |  Susumu Tonegawa receives Nobel Prize for work on the genetics of antibody diversity.
1995  |  The first complete nucleotide sequence of a bacterial chromosome is reported (Haemophilus influenzae).
1997  |  Stanley B. Prusiner receives Nobel Prize for the discovery and characterization of prions.
1998  |  An autoimmune disease (chronic arthritis) is linked to bacterial infection.
2000  |  The first new antibiotic in 35 years, Zyvox, is approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

## See also[edit]

## References[edit]

Talaro, Kathleen P. and Talaro, Arthur (1999). Foundations in Microbiology (Columbus, OH: WCB/McGraw-Hill), 3rd ed., p. 10\.