“Look at the wee-beasties.”

or a visit to the Microorganism

Hall of Fame

This presentation honors those

great people who helped us learn

about microorganisms.

Microorganisms were

unknown prior to the 1670’s.

How did we discover microorganisms?

First, we had to have a

microscope.

Our first member of the Hall of

Fame…

Zacharias Janssen

Invented the microscope in

1595.

It was considered a “toy” for the

rich.

Zacharias Janssen

Anton van Leeuwenhoek

In 1680, Anton van

Leeuwenhoek improved the microscope.

He called the small creatures he saw

through the microscope “animalcules” (Little

animals).

What he saw were bacteria

and protozoans.

Click here for Understanding: Anton

van Leeuwenhoek.

Anton van Leeuwenhoek

Edward Jenner

Developed the first vaccine in

the 1790’s.

Milk maids who had “cow pox” did not develop

smallpox.

Click here for Edward Jenner: Smallpox Vaccine

.

Edward Jenner

Oliver Wendell Holmes and

Ignaz Semmelweis

Prior to the 1840’s, many women died after childbirth

from Child Bed Fever.

Washing hands solved the the problem and saved

lives.

They realized Child Bed Fever was caused by dirty

hands.

Click here for Louis Pasteur – Mini Biography

.

Oliver Wendell Holmes and

Ignaz Semmelweis

Joseph Lister

People got sick and many died after operations.

First used antiseptics and disinfectants in the

operating room in the 1860’s.

Joseph Lister

Louis Pasteur

Proved all organisms came from other living things.

Showed microorganisms can be killed by heat

(Pasteurization).

Did his work in the 1860’s – 1880’s.

Click here for 100 Greatest Discoveries: Germ

Theory.

Louis Pasteur

Robert Koch

In the 1870’s, he proved that germs

caused disease.

Robert Koch

Sir Alexander Fleming

Discovered the “miracle drug,” penicillin in 1928.

Click here for 100 Greatest Discoveries: Penicillin Development

.

Sir Alexander Fleming

These are the members of the

Cell Hall of Fame.