Louis Pasteur: Major Ideas

Louis Pasteur was a Chemist. He is credited with saving the wine and silk industries during the 19th century. He discovered the reason why wine would become bitter or sour and he figured out why the silk worms were dying. He discovered that the reason wine would become bitter or sour was because of harmful microorganisms in the fermentation mixture. He discovered that if people put wine in an area that was 55 degrees fahrenheit for several minutes the harmful bacteria in the wine would be destroyed but the taste of the wine would stay intact. This process is now called pasteurization which is used on now for vinegar, beer, juice, milk, cheese, and eggs. Pasteur was able to save the silk business by discovering that specific microbes were causing specific diseas in the silk worms. In 1877 Pasteur started focusing on the cause of disease. People at the time believed that bad air or human sins were the cause of disease. Pasteur and Robert Koch are credited for the germ theory of disease which says that diseases are caused by specific microbes. Pasteur went one step further and suggested that the spread of disease could be stopped by killing the microorganisms that were causing diseases. Before Pasteur Doctors did not sterilize there their equipment. After doctors implemented Pasteur's aseptic techniques death following operations dropped from 50 percent to 3 percent. Another idea that Pasteur discovered was vaccines. He discovered vaccines while studying chicken cholera. He realized that the Chickens could be cured and prevented from ever getting the disease by being vaccinated. In 1881 Pasteur developed an anthrax vaccine. During this time Anthrax was killing hoards of cattle and other farm animals. He also created a vaccine for rabies. Pasteur's rabies vaccine saved many lives.