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Aug 27, 1546
Girolamo Fracastoro
In 1546 he proposed that epidemic diseases are caused by transferable tiny particles or "spores" that could transmit infection by direct or indirect contact or even without contact over long distances. In his writing, the "spores" of diseases may refer to chemicals rather than to any living entities. -
Francesco Redi
He was also the first to recognise and correctly describe details of many important parasites, and for this reason, as many historians and scientists claim, he may rightly be called the father of modern parasitology -
Anton van Leeuwenhoek
discovery of bacteria -
John Needham
He did experiments with gravy and later, tainted wheat, in containers. This was in order to experiment with spontaneous generation. Needham was curious on how this term was relevant. The experiments consisted of briefly boiling a broth mixture and then cooling the mixture in an open container to room temperature. Later, the flasks would be sealed, and microbes would grow a few days later. Those experiments seemed to show that there was a life force that produced spontaneous generation -
Lazarro Spallanzani
paved the way for the downfall of preformationism theory (the idea that organisms develop from miniature versions of themselves) -
Edward Jenner
Edward Jenner was an English physician and scientist from Berkeley, Gloucestershire, who was the pioneer of smallpox vaccine. He is often called "the father of immunology", and his work is said to have "saved more lives than the work of any other man". -
Theodor Schwann
His many contributions to biology include the development of cell theory, the discovery of Schwann cells in the peripheral nervous system, the discovery and study of pepsin, the discovery of the organic nature of yeast, and the invention of the term metabolism. -
Friedrich Schroder
tried to expand upon Lazzaro Spallanzani's work -
Ignaz Semmelweis
Ignaz Semmelweis first connected the high death rate of women in the clinic to pueperal fever. He realized that the fever was spread to many women in the clinic because doctors would not sterilize their hands between examining patients and autopsies. Once he mandated that all doctors wash their hands with a chlorine based solution, deaths began to decrease dramatically. -
John Tyndall
His initial scientific fame arose in the 1850s from his study of diamagnetism. Later he made a number of discoveries in the realms of infrared radiation and the physical properties of air. -
Louis Pasteur (pasteurization)
He created pasteurization -
Louis Pasteur (vaccine)
was a French chemist and microbiologist who is well known for his discoveries of the principles of vaccination, microbial fermentation and pasteurization. He is remembered for his remarkable breakthroughs in the causes and preventions of diseases, and his discoveries have saved countless lives ever since. -
Theodor von Dusch
he demonstrated that a filter made of cotton-wool was effective in removing microbes such as bacteria from air. -
Joseph Lister
By applying Louis Pasteur's advances in microbiology, he promoted the idea of sterile surgery while working at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary. Lister successfully introduced carbolic acid (now known as phenol) to sterilise surgical instruments and to clean wounds, which led to a reduction in post-operative infections and made surgery safer for patients. -
Robert Koch
Robert Koch is considered to be the founder of modern bacteriology, is known for his role in identifying the specific causative agents of tuberculosis, cholera, and anthrax and for giving experimental support for the concept of infectious disease. -
Charles Chamberland
In 1884 he developed a type of filtration known today as the Chamberland filter or Chamberland-Pasteur filter, a device that made use of an unglazed porcelain bar. The filter had pores that were smaller than bacteria, thus making it possible to pass a solution containing bacteria through the filter, and having the bacteria completely removed from the solution. He was also credited for starting a research project that led to the invention of the autoclave device in 1879. -
Aristotle (300 B.C.)
Developed a theory called Spontaneous Generation (Abiogenesis) -
Oswald T. Avery, Colin M. MacLeod, and Maclyn McCarty
Discovered that DNA is genetic material
