MIMM 211 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Agostino Bassi, Phytophthora Infestans, Louis Pasteur
29 Aug 2016
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John needham boiled mutton broth, put it in a flask and sealed it. Microorganisms appeared and he suggested that his experiments were supporting spontaneous generation. Lazzaro sapllanzani put broth in a flask, sealed it and boiled it. No microorganisms appeared and he claimed that he disproved spontaneous generation. Supporters of the spontaneous generation suggested that spontaneous generation probably required air. In 1859, the french academy of science sponsored a competition to prove/disprove this theory. Louis pasteur, in 1861, boiled meat broth in a flask and curved its neck. Microbiology became an experimental science as opposed to an observational science. (pasteur"s swan-necked flasks) Beginning of the germ theory of disease : in 1845, berkeley showed that the great potato blight of ireland was caused by a fungus, pasteur showed that silkworms were parasitized by a protozoan in the french silk industry.
