Frederick Griffith was a British bacteriologist who performed transformation experiments that suggested that DNA was the hereditary material. His focus was on the epidemiology and pathology of bacterial pneumonia – which led him to develop the principle of bacterial transformation – which allow scientist to transform a bacterium through the introduction of exogenous DNA carrying […]
FREDERICK GRIFFITH (1879-1941) Read More »
General Microbiology
Sergei Winogradsky was a Ukrainian-Russian microbiologist, ecologist and soil scientist who was among the first to delve into a different area of microbiology that involved the investigation of microbes in the environment that did not cause disease. Winogradsky pioneered the concept of bacteria (like nitrifying and purple-sulphur bacteria) that cycle nitrogen and sulphur compounds in
SERGEI WINOGRADSKY (1856-1953) Read More »
General Microbiology
Martinus Beijerinck was a Dutch microbiologist and botanists who like Sergei Winogradsky began examining the role of non-infectious microorganisms in the soil. They both reported that microorganisms play important role in nutrient recycling in the ecosystem (particularly those of nitrogen, carbon and sulphur) as well as in the process of nitrogen-fixation by symbiotic or free-living
MARTINUS BEIJERINCK (1851-1931) Read More »
General Microbiology
Gerhard Domagk was a German pathologist and bacteriologist who reported in 1935 that prontosil (a red dye used for staining leather) was active against pathogenic Staphylococci and Streptococci in mice. It was later that the two French scientists Jacques and Therese Trefonel discovered in the same year that prontosil was broken down within the body
GERHARD DOMAGK (1895-1964) Read More »
General Microbiology
Systematic work on antimicrobial drugs was first initiated by the Germanphysician Paul Ehrlich. Ehrlich worked in the fields of haematology, immunology, and chemotherapy. He coined the term “chemotherapy” and also developed the concept of “selective toxicity in the early 1900s”, which is “the ability of an agent to inhibit or kill pathogenic microorganisms without any
PAUL EHRLICH (1854-1915) Read More »
General Microbiology
Dmitri Iwanovski was a Russian botanist, and one of the discoverer of filterable nature of viruses and the field of virology. He was one of the founders of the biomedical field called virology. In 1892, he filtered infectious extract from tobacco plants infected with mosaic disease using bacterial filters (which are sieves that excluded bacteria
DMITRI IWANOVSKI (1864-1920) Read More »
General Microbiology
Joseph Lister, an English surgeon is the father of antiseptic surgery. He was aware of Semmelweis’s work and together with Pasteur realized the true nature of disease cause, transmission and prevention. Lister sought for ways to prevent microorganisms from infecting wounds because deaths resulting from post-surgery infections as at the time was alarming and accounted
JOSEPH LISTER (1827-1912) Read More »
General Microbiology
Ignaz Semmelweisis regarded as the father of infection control because of his discovery of the cause of maternal death during childbirth. Ignaz introduced an infection control method known as antisepsis to control the contamination of the labour room by pathogenic microorganisms which caused the death of pregnant women during childbirth as at the time. Ignaz
IGNAZ SEMMELWEIS (1818-1865) Read More »
General Microbiology
Elie Metchnikoff was a Russian biologist, zoologist and protozoologist who is best remembered for his pioneering research work into the immune system, specific cells and organs of the body (e.g. white blood cells, spleen, antibodies and thymus) which protect it from diseases and infectious agents. An associate of Louis Pasteur, Elie coined the word “phagocytosis”
ELIE METCHNIKOFF (1845-1916) Read More »
General Microbiology
Lazzaro, an Italian naturalist criticized John Needham’s work on spontaneous generation. In 1769, he performed series of experiments on the subject matter which showed that heating can prevent the appearance of animalcules in infusion (depending on the degree of heating). Abbe Lazzaro Spallanzani was not satisfied with Needham’s work of only using cork to seal
ABBE LAZZARO SPALLANZANI (1729-1799) Read More »
General Microbiology