Why was Germ Theory a breakthrough in medical
Why was ‘Germ Theory’ a breakthrough in medical understanding? Story Source Timeline The story of ‘Germ Theory’ Answer the Qs 1856 When you order wine in a restaurant today, the waiter lets you taste it first to see whether or not the wine has spoiled. These days, that’s almost never the case but it used to happened much more frequently. Such faults are called “wine maladies. ” Louis Pasteur already had experience with alcohol going bad. In 1856, he’d been approached by an industrialist named Monsieur Bigo, whose business was distilling alcohol from beet sugar. Bigo wanted Pasteur to find out why some of his alcohol had turned sour like spoiled milk. Pasteur was obsessed. “Louis … is now up to his neck in beet juice, ” his wife Marie wrote to Pasteur’s father. What was Pasteur asked to do? Test the wine Fix the wine Trade the wine By 1860, wine had become a national crisis for France. A trade deal with Britain drastically boosted French wine exports, but a lot of the wine turned out to be spoiled! Eager to save France’s reputation and economy, Emperor Napoleon III (Napoleon Bonaparte’s nephew) asked the famous French chemist Louis Pasteur to discover why some wines went sour — and fix them. Pasteur had already figured out how to tell living and non-living molecules apart. He examined the spoiled alcohol closely, he knew he was seeing living things. He had used a microscope, something no one had done before. Some of the tiny shapes he had viewed under the microscope were living yeast cells, needed to change sugar into alcohol, however, other tiny shapes he had seen there were different microorganisms that were causing unwanted changes. They were the reason the alcohol was turning bad. Pasteur had finally discovered bacteria, also known as microbes/germs. He published a paper on the “Germ Theory” in 1861. It was a scientific landmark that also helped give birth to microbiology — the study of microscopic life. However, his theory was very general- he said that bacteria causes diseases but he could not tell which specific bacteria was causing what disease. In 1865, there was a Cholera outbreak in France and he wanted to find the exact bacteria causing the disease but still couldn’t work it out. Why was wine a problem for France in 1860? Scholarship What technology did Pasteur use? astrolabe Printing Press microscope Why was Pasteur ignored? Eureka! Then in 1876, a German doctor called Robert Koch and his team were using Pasteur’s earlier work and made a breakthrough. They had found the bacteria causing anthrax. This was the first time anyone had identified the specific microbe that caused and individual disease and this led to the development of vaccines. This finally persuaded people that Miasmata was not the cause of disease, it was in fact, bacteria. Pasteur died on September 28 1895. His legacy includes the naming of the process of pasteurisation; the Pasteur Institute, a non-profit foundation dedicated to the study of biology, micro-organisms, diseases and vaccines; a museum; and over 2000 streets named after him in France. Task 1: Read through the story of the Louis Pasteur’s Germ Theory. Complete a timeline in the left hand column and answer the questions as you read through on the right hand side. April 7, 1864, Louis Pasteur gave a lecture at the Sorbonne in Paris “Never will the doctrine of spontaneous generation recover from the mortal blow I have given it. In all the immensity of creation, I have taken my drop of water, full of elements most suited to the development of small beings, and I wait, I observe, I question it, I beg it to be so kind as to begin over again, just to please me, the primitive act of creation; and it would be so fair a sight!” What was the ‘Eureka’ moment? Task 2: Read the source A. In your book, write a short description of the overall message of the sourcewhat is Pasteur saying? . Then answer the question “What influence from Renaissance medical thinking can you notice in Pasteur’s lecture? ” Article by Denise and Roger Ham in 21 st century Science & Technology (2013) “For the first time, the origin of a disease in a living organism had been traced to the action of a microbe. Pasteur’s hypothesis saved the French industry. Equally important, Pasteur’s work would help him tackle other biological problems, saving mankind from a host of diseases. His experiments led him to believe that addressing filthy conditions and over-crowding were an essential aspect of treating human disease. Pasteur fought to organise the French government to provide adequate supplies of fresh water as well as a sewage system, to prevent the spread of deadly diseases like cholera. While others had discussed the presence of microbes and their possible role in disease, Pasteur’s work was the beginning of a rigorous and powerful germ theory because of his commitment to conquer these diseases. Through meticulous experimentation he developed an arsenal of ideas which fundamentally shifted the battle. ” Task 3: Read through the scholarship about Louis Pasteur. Highlight what you think are three most important sentences. In your book, answer the question “According to the scholarship, why was Germ Theory such a breakthrough? ”
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