History of Microbiology

In mid-1600, microscopes were already available that made scientist named Robert
Hooke to have observed strands of fungi among the cells that he viewed.

It was not until 1670s that scientist/merchant Antoine

Van Leeuwenhoek made observations of
microscopic organisms he called ‘animalcules’ we
now know as protozoa, yeasts and bacteria. He built
microscopes as a hobby and the microscopes that he
used could magnify objects about 200-300 times.
Leeuwenhoek observed things like rain water and
pond water. He then made sketches and sent his
findings to the Royal Society of London.

Studying microbiology was not a hit when

Leeuwenhoek died because the interest in this field
was not at its peak. It was in this time where scientists
thought that
microorganisms arise from lifeless matter like beef
broth but Lazzaro Spallanzani quickly debunked the
idea of spontaneous generation that broth would give
life to microorganisms.

In the middle to late of 1800, scientist Louis Pasteur performed experiments as to why
wine and dairy products became sour. He then discovered that bacteria were to blame
and gave attention to the importance of microorganisms in one’s life and thought that if
bacteria could make the wine ‘bad’, then it could also cause human illnesses. His
experiments proved that microorganisms are in the air and could cause a disease. This
was postulated as the germ theory of disease.

Following his work, scientist Robert Koch provided proof of Pasteur’s theory by
cultivating anthrax bacteria apart from other organisms. He also perfected the technique
of isolating bacteria in a pure culture. His assistant, Fanne Eilshemius Hesse, was the
one who proposed the use of agar in culturing bacteria instead of gelatine because of
agar’s higher melting and solidifying points.

This followed the Golden Age of Microbiology in which different infectious diseases
were identified and cured, and antibiotics were introduced to medicine. This includes
prevention of small pox, discovery of penicillin, treatment of syphilis, tuberculosis and
meningitis.

In the 1940s, electron microscope was developed and perfected. This helped developed
vaccines and illnesses like polio, measles, mumps and rubella came under control.
In the present age, modern microbiology is being studied and being developed. It has
reached a lot of fields including food and dairy production, manufacturing of vitamins
and growth supplements etc. It also came into light the study of biotechnology, in where
microorganisms are used for the production of antibiotics, hormones and the likes that
could be of help to new discoveries for the next centuries.

References:

https://www.cliffsnotes.com/study-guides/biology/microbiology/introduction-to-microbiology/a-
brief-history-of-microbiology

https://www.slideshare.net/sarathy4/history-of-microbiology-10692521