Pasteur, Louis

Name:
Pasteur, Louis
Detailed information:
(1822–1895). A French chemist and bacteriologist who made three notable contributions to science: (1) As a result of extensive study of fermentation, which led him to conclude that it is caused by infective bacteria, he extended the work of Jenner on smallpox serum made from cowpox (1775) to development of the concept of immunizing serums and the antibody-antigen relationship(1880). Pasteur was the first to inoculate for rabies and anthrax, and suggested the term vaccination (from Latin vaccus for “cow”) in recognition of Jenner's achievement. (2) Initiation of the practice of heat-treating wine, and later milk and other food products, to kill or inactivate toxic microorganisms, especially the tuberculosis bacillus. (3) Discovery of the optical properties of tartaric acid, present in wine residues, which laid the basis for modern knowledge of optical isomers (right- and left-handed molecular structure), a phenomenon now often called chirality.See Pasteurization; Optical Isomer.