Louis Pasteur
...niversity of Strasbourg. Here he met Marie Laurent, daughter of the rector of the university. They were married in 1849. Pasteur's wife shared his love for science. They had five children; three died in childhood. In 1854 Pasteur became professor of chemistry and dean of the school of science (Faculté des Sciences) at the University of Lille. Hearing of Pasteur's ability, a local distiller came to him for help in controlling the process of making alcohol by fermenting beet sugar. Pasteur saw that fermentation was not a simple chemical reaction but took place only in the presence of living organisms. He learned that fermentation, putrefaction, infection, and souring are caused by germs, or microbes. Pasteur published his first paper on the formation of lactic acid and its function in souring milk in 1857. Further studies developed the valuable technique of pasteurization . The same year he was appointed manager and director of scientific studies at his old school, the École Normale Supérieure. During the next several years he extended his studies into the germ theory. He spent much time proving to doubting scientists that germs do not originate spontaneously in matter but enter from the outside. Developing Cures for Agricultural Diseases In 1865 Pasteur was asked to help the French silk industry, which was near ruin as a result of a mysterious disease that attacked the silkworms. After intensive research, he discovered that two diseases were involved, both caused by bacteria on the mulberry leaves that provided food for the worms. The diseases were transmitted through the eggs to the next generation of worms. Pasteur showed the silkworm breeders how to identify healthy eggs under the microscope, how to destroy diseased eggs and worms, and how to prevent formation of disease bacteria on the mulberry leaves. At 45 Pasteur was struck by paralysis. For a time, recovery was uncertain, and he was confined to bed for months. The attack left its mark; for the rest of his life, one foot dragged a little as he walked. In 1877 Pasteur began to seek a cure for anthrax, a disease that killed cattle, sheep, and other farm animals. He drew on research he was conducting on another animal disease, chicken cholera. When he inoculated healthy chickens with weakened cultures of the cholera microbes, the chickens suffered only a mild sickness and were thereafter immune to the disease. Pasteur successfully applied this technique of immunization to the prevention of anthrax. Many scientists challenged Pasteur's anthrax prevention claims, and Pasteur agreed to a dramatic test. Forty-eight sheep and a few cows and goats were gathered in a pasture near the town of Melun. Half the animals were first immunized with cultures of weakened anthrax microbes; then all were injected with strong cultures. Within a few days, the untreated animals were dead; but the immunized animals showed no effect of the disease. The test verified Pasteur's results beyond all doubt. Later he proposed that all inoculation cultures be called vaccines and the inoculating technique, vaccination. Treatment for Rabies was his next challenge. Human beings contract rabies (or hydrophobia) when they are bitten by ...