The Life of LOUIS PASTEUR

Louis  Pasteur was born on December 27, 1822, in Dôle,  a small  town in France. He grew in a humble family and his  father was  a tanner. He graduated in 1840 from the College of  Arts  at Besancon  and entered the prestigious Ecole  Namale  Supervieure, Paris, to work for his doctorate degree. He chose for his studies the then obscure science of crystallography, which was to have  a great influence on his career.
Pasteur entered  the  scientific  world   as  a    professor  of physics  at the Lycee of Tournon  and started his  research on  the optical   properties of  crystals  of  tartaric acid salts. He  found  the  two  forms  of this acid which could  rotate  the  plane  of polarization  of  light, one to the right and the  other  to  the left. This was his first important discovery in  crystallography, the  phenomenon of optical isomers. Paradoxically it incited  him to  abandon  the  field. But it won the  acclaim  of  the  French Academy  and Britain's Royal Society. Thus Pasteur became  famous at the age of 26.
	Pasteur soon began researching the complexities of bacteriology.  The prevalent theory of life at the time was spontaneous generation which states that certain forms of life such as flies, worms, and mice can develop from non-living matter such as mud and decaying fish.  Pasteur disproved this theory with a simple experiment. He showed that microorganisms would grow in sterilized broth only if the broth was first exposed to air containing spores, or reproductive cells. His findings led to the development of the cell theory of the origin of living matter which states that all life originates from preexisting living material.
In 1849, Pasteur  became professor of chemistry at the  University of  Strasbourg, where he began studying fermentation, a type of chemical breakdown of substances by microbes.  He served the rest of his  career  as Dean  of  Sciences  at the University of Lille.  Soon  after  his arrival at Lille, Pasteur was asked to solve the problems of  the local industries,  vinegar and silk manufacture.
A producer of vinegar from beet juice wanted to know why the  product  was  sometimes  spoilt.  On  examining  the   juice microscopically,  Pasteur  observed that  the  contaminant,  amyl alcohol,  was optically active. This gave clear evidence that  it was  produced  by  a living organism.  Pasteur  then  proposed  a biological  interpretation  of the process  of  fermentation.  He demonstrated that when no contamination by living contagion  took place,  the process of fermentation or putrefaction did not  take place.  Thus the celebrated techniques of  Pasteurization,  came into  being,  it  could  not only  preserve  wine  and  milk  but drastically cut inflation in the surgeon's operating table. Today pasteurization follows closely the early techniques of Louis Pasteur.  In the case of milk pasteurization, the milk is heated to 161°F  for 15 seconds followed by a rapid cooling to 50°F or lower.  This process removes any unwanted bacteria, but also kills any beneficial bac!
teria and reduces some of the nutritive property of milk. 
The  Franco-Prussian  War opened an avenue to  press  his microbial  theory of infection, he got the grudging agreement  of the  military  medical corps to sterilize instruments  and  steam bandages.  As a result, thousands of lives were saved.  In  1873, Pasteur  was  elected  to  the French Academy  of  Medicine,  a spectacular achievement for a person without a medical degree.
Pasteur  was now ready to move from the simpler forms  of   life  in  the  microbial  world to the  diseases  of  the  higher animals.  The opportunity came through a devastating outbreak  of anthrax,  a  killer  plague of sheep in 1876.  Pasteur  tried  to produce pure cultures, his objective was to fight the disease and not just to describe it.
Pasteur  had  accidentally forgotten in a corner  of  the laboratory a culture of fowl cholera and noticed that it had lost some  of  its virulence. Then he vaccinated  some  chicken  which resisted the disease. The same technique, after improvement,  was applied  against  bacillus anthracis: sheep inoculated  with  the vaccine survived and the non-vaccinated ones died. A scourge that had  crippling  economic  effects  was  brought  under   control. Simultaneously,  the principle of immunization or  the protection of the body through vaccines was discovered.
In  1865, the silk industry of France faced  an  economic ruin by an epidemic among silkworms. He proceeded to the south of France  and  set  up an improvised laboratory.  He  isolated  the pathogens causing the disease and after three years of  intensive work, he suggested suitable remedies.  This  achievement coincided with personal tragedy in  his life:  his two daughters died of typhoid fever in 1866. In  1868, he  suffered  a set back in health, his left arm  and  leg  being permanently  paralyzed.  Nonetheless,  he  continued  with   grim determination,   his  study  of  silkworm  diseases,   which   he perceived,   will  help  control  diseases  of  higher   animals, including man.
Pasteur  then  started  work on rabies,  the  disease  of animals,  particularly dogs. The causative agent was a virus,  an entity not capable of growth in scientists' broth, which nurtured bacteria.  Pasteur worked for five years to isolate  and  culture the  pathogen.  Finally  he prepared  a  vaccine  for  injection. Animals could now be saved but the effect of trying out on humans had to wait.
        On  July  6, 1885, Joseph Meister with 18  bites  from  a rabid  dog, was brought to Pasteur. He treated him over a  12-day period with the vaccine and the boy was saved.
        Pasteur  is  remembered  for his  innovative  work  as  a teacher.  He  introduced changes every year in  the  material  he taught in his class, as his main concern was to present an  image of  science  open to debate and discussion rather than  based  on fixed  notions.  All  along  his  career,  Pasteur  maintained  a meticulous record of his laboratory work, in which he noted every day  all  his  observations:  description  of  experiments,   new projects,   notes  on  techniques  of  brewers,   wine   growers, sericulturists,   drafts   of  letters,  papers   to   scientific societies. Due to the extreme rigor and care with which  Pasteur used to write his notes, they became an essential work tool.  
         Pasteur's seventieth birthday in 1892 was celebrated  in a unique way, by being observed as a national holiday in  France. His  address on this occasion carried a thoughtful message:  "You bring me the greatest happiness that can be experienced by a  man whose  invincible belief is that science and peace  will  triumph over ignorance and war.... In the long run the future will belong not   to  the  conquerors  but  to  the  saviors   of   mankind".  
        Pasteur,  honored by the world but unaffected,  died  on September  28,  1895,  he was buried in a crypt  in  the  Pasteur Institute.
        In  1940, the conquering Germans came to Paris. A  German officer  demanded to see the tomb of Pasteur, but the old  French guard  refused  to open the gate. When the German  insisted,  the guard killed himself. The latter was Joseph Meister, whom Pasteur had saved from hydrophobia.
	Louis Pasteur made many valuable contributions to the fields of chemistry, medicine, and industry with findings and research still applicable today.  In making discoveries concerning the spreading of diseases he was able to prevent the loss of many lives.  Pasteur was a remarkable scientist who put his basic discoveries to use in everyday problems in health and industry.