Knowra Robert Koch Robert Koch Robert Koch (1843–1910) was a German physician and microbiologist who identified the bacteria causing tuberculosis, cholera, and anthrax. His methods helped establish bacteriology as an experimental science.
Louis Pasteur : French chemist and microbiologist whose work on fermentation, vaccination, and microbes helped establish germ theory. Pasteur’s work shaped the scientific debate in which Koch established bacteriology.
Koch's postulates : A set of criteria proposed to connect a microorganism causally to a disease. These criteria distilled the causal reasoning behind Koch’s bacteriological investigations.
Mycobacterium tuberculosis : The bacterium that causes tuberculosis in humans and many other animals. Koch announced its identification in 1882, establishing the cause of tuberculosis.
Bacteriology : The scientific study of bacteria, including their structure, physiology, genetics, and effects. Koch helped turn bacteriology into a rigorous discipline grounded in cultivation and experiment.
Friedrich Loeffler : German bacteriologist who discovered the bacteria causing diphtheria and glanders and helped develop Koch’s postulates. Loeffler extended Koch’s methods and formalized criteria for linking microbes to disease.
Pure culture : A laboratory population of microorganisms descended from one type of organism and grown apart from others. Isolating organisms in pure culture let Koch test their effects separately.
Vibrio cholerae : A curved, Gram-negative bacterium that causes cholera through a toxin-mediated intestinal infection. Koch identified this bacterium during investigations of cholera in Egypt and India.
Robert Koch Institute : Germany’s federal public health institute, named after Robert Koch and based in Berlin. Koch founded the predecessor institution in 1891 to study infectious diseases.
Paul Ehrlich : German physician and scientist whose research on staining, immunity, and antimicrobial drugs helped found immunology and chemotherapy. Ehrlich trained in Koch’s Berlin institute before pursuing his own research program.
Bacterial staining : The use of dyes to make bacterial cells or structures easier to distinguish under a microscope. Staining made pathogens visible and distinguishable in Koch’s specimens.
Show all 24