Chronicles the life of Robert Koch, focusing on his contributions to the fields of medicine and bacteriology, discussing his research trips to India, findings on the causes of tuberculosis, cholera, and anthrax, postulates, Nobel Prize, and other related topics.
Chronicles the life of Robert Koch, focusing on his contributions to the fields of medicine and bacteriology, discussing his research trips to India, findings on the causes of tuberculosis, cholera, and anthrax, postulates, Nobel Prize, and other related topics.
In the nineteenth century, the new field of medical bacteriology identified microorganisms and explained how they spread disease. This book interweaves the history of this discipline and the biography of one of its founders, Nobel Prize–winning German physician Robert Koch (1843–1910). Koch contributed to modern medicine by inventing or improving fundamental techniques such as bacterial staining, solid culture media, mass pure cultures, and the use of animal models. His discoveries, which dominated medical science at the turn of the last century, are epitomized in a set of rules named after him. "Koch's Postulates" are still invoked today in attempts to prove the causal involvement of pathogens in infectious diseases. In a double history, Christoph Gradmann narrates the development of a discipline and the biography of a scientist. Drawing on Koch's extensive laboratory notes, Gradmann details how Koch developed his scientific method and discovered the bacterial causes of anthrax, tuberculosis, and cholera. Koch tried to bring this knowledge to clinical medicine by developing medicines that would specifically target the bacterial pathogens he identified. And Koch’s passion for personal travel developed into a career signature, as he became a pioneer in the study of tropical diseases. A fascinating look into Koch's personality and his experimental work in medical bacteriology, Laboratory Disease reveals both the biographical and the historical roots of our modern understanding of infectious diseases.
A History of Medical Bacteriology and Immunology provides the account of the history of bacteriology from the year 1900 to 1938. This book presents details about the discovery of the important pathogenic bacteria of man, of how they were shown to be causally related to disease, and of the use of these discoveries in the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease. Other topics discussed include the development of the germ theory of infectious diseases; contribution of Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch to medical bacteriology; and discovery of the more important human pathogenic bacteria. This text also discusses the scientific basis and practical application of immunology to medicine; main developments in bacteriology during the early 20th century; and chemotherapy of bacterial disease. This medically oriented text is beneficial for students and individuals conducting study on medical bacteriology and immunology.
The riveting history of tuberculosis, the world’s most lethal disease, the two men whose lives it tragically intertwined, and the birth of medical science. In 1875, tuberculosis was the deadliest disease in the world, accountable for a third of all deaths. A diagnosis of TB—often called consumption—was a death sentence. Then, in a triumph of medical science, a German doctor named Robert Koch deployed an unprecedented scientific rigor to discover the bacteria that caused TB. Koch soon embarked on a remedy—a remedy that would be his undoing. When Koch announced his cure for consumption, Arthur Conan Doyle, then a small-town doctor in England and sometime writer, went to Berlin to cover the event. Touring the ward of reportedly cured patients, he was horrified. Koch’s “remedy” was either sloppy science or outright fraud. But to a world desperate for relief, Koch’s remedy wasn’t so easily dismissed. As Europe’s consumptives descended upon Berlin, Koch urgently tried to prove his case. Conan Doyle, meanwhile, returned to England determined to abandon medicine in favor of writing. In particular, he turned to a character inspired by the very scientific methods that Koch had formulated: Sherlock Holmes. Capturing the moment when mystery and magic began to yield to science, The Remedy chronicles the stunning story of how the germ theory of disease became a true fact, how two men of ambition were emboldened to reach for something more, and how scientific discoveries evolve into social truths.
We are swamped with information and each day seems to bring new discoveries that must be considered. Never before in the history of science have so many scientists been as active as today. It has become a major problem for the expert just to keep up with the literature in his or her own field of research. Why, then, should experts and their poor students worry about the pioneers of microbiology, those half-forgotten scientists who a century ago devoted their lives to a new science that was on its way to revolutionizing medicine?With so many new facts and problems screaming for our attention, it is easy to lose sight of the long road that we have travelled in order to get to the point where we are now. Tracing the path of those who have gone before us will help us to see our own scientific goals and efforts in a more revealing perspective.The great figures who are at the center of interest in this book — Robert Koch, Emil von Behring, Paul Ehrlich and Elie Metchnikoff — were far from uncontroversial during their lifetimes. It is interesting to see how they were judged by their peers at the Karolinska Institutet when they were considered for the Nobel Prize.Pioneers of Microbiology and the Nobel Prize has been written in such a way that it can be enjoyed even without an extensive knowledge of microbiology and medicine. In fact, a considerable part of the book portrays the state of medicine during the middle of the 19th century, when bacteriology can be said to have made its debut on the medical scene.
This book presents a collection of short biographies and works of the pioneers in pathology. The alphabetically arranged entries allow readers to quickly and easily find the information they need.
"The practice of inoculation for the prevention of disease is one of considerable antiquity. The period of its discovery can only be conjectured, but there is little doubt that even in remote times it mush have been recognised by man, that certain diseases occur once only durng the life of an individual, or that after recovery he is generally immune against further attacks of the same disease." -- Chapter 1, Page 10.
Pasteurization, penicillin, Koch's postulates, and gene coding. These discoveries and inventions are vital yet commonplace in modern life, but were radical when first introduced to the public and academia. In this book, the life and times of leading pioneers in microbiology are discussed in vivid detail, focusing on the background of each discovery and the process in which they were developed — sometimes by accident or sheer providence.