2023-09-28 14:08:13
On September 28, 1895 he died in France Louis Pasteurchemist, physicist, mathematician and bacteriologist whose discoveries had enormous importance in the field of modern microbiology.
In August 1847 he obtained his Doctorate in Sciences at the Faculty of Sciences in Paris. Years later, in 1854, he was appointed dean of the Faculty of Sciences at the University of Lille. In 1857, he served as director of scientific studies at the École Normale de Paris, whose laboratory he directed from 1867.
Discovered pasteurization
Thanks to his work, the pasteurization technique was known, which consists of eliminating part or all of the germs from a product by raising its temperature for a short time. Currently, it is the process that guarantees the safety of numerous food products in the world.
The discovery of infectious diseases
Louis Pasteur developed the germ theory of infectious diseases. It established that every infectious disease has its cause in a microscopic living entity with the capacity to spread between people. At that time, it was believed that diseases came from an imbalance of the body’s humors, a theory adopted by the philosophers and doctors of the ancient Greek and Roman civilizations. According to this way of thinking, there were four humors in the body that gave rise to four different temperaments: sanguine, choleric, melancholic and phlegmatic. In this way, all diseases and disabilities would result from an excess or deficiency of one of these four humors.
The father of modern antisepsis, Joseph Lister, followed Pasteur’s advice and systematized his ideas. He made radical changes to the way operations were performed: doctors had to wash their hands and wear gloves, and surgical instruments had to be sterilized just before use. A series of steps that are still used today in all operating rooms around the world.
The rabies vaccine
Additionally, Pasteur created a vaccine using the very pathogen that caused the disease in humans. So he developed the rabies vaccine. After several years of carrying out different tests on animals, in 1885 the opportunity arose to test the vaccine on a human being. A child had been bitten by a dog with rabies, a fatal disease. Even though he was not a doctor, Pasteur decided to vaccinate him and the child was saved.
Pasteur continued researching during the following years and in 1888 the Institute that bears his name was founded, dedicated to the study and prevention of infectious diseases.
When he was 45 years old, Pasteur suffered a stroke that partially paralyzed his left side. Years later he suffered another stroke that worsened his health. He finally passed away at the age of 72. In France he was treated as a national hero and he was laid to rest at the Notre Dame Cathedral. Today, Pasteur is remembered as one of the founders of preventive medicine.
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