Robert Koch Google Doodle honors the father of bacteriology

Honoring Robert Koch: Search Engine Google celebrates the father of bacteriology

Robert Koch is next to the Frenchman Louis Pasteur as the father of bacteriology. The physician was born on December 11, 1843. On 10.12.1905 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine. The search engine Google now honors the famous German scientist with a so-called Doodle.

Honoring the founder of modern bacteriology

Tomorrow, Monday, the German physician, microbiologist and hygienist Robert Koch celebrated his 174th birthday. And today, 112 years ago, the famous German scientist received the Nobel Prize for Medicine. The search engine Google honors the founder of modern bacteriology and microbiology therefore with a so-called Doodle. Other physicians have been granted this recognition in the past, such as the stethoscope inventor René Laënnec.

The research of the German physician Robert Koch contributed significantly to the fact that it was understood that bacteria can cause infectious diseases. 112 years ago, the researcher received the Nobel Prize for Medicine. Now Google honors him with a so-called Doodle. (Image: Dr_Kateryna / fotolia.com)

Connection of a microorganism as the cause of an infectious disease

Born on December 11, 1843 in Clausthal (today Clausthal-Zellerfeld, Harz) Robert Koch studied after graduation in Göttingen first a semester of physics, then medicine, explains the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) on its website.

After the state examination and several stations as a hospital doctor, he started a position as a district physicist in Wollstein (Posen, today Wolsztyn, Poland) and founded his scientific career with his experimental work on anthrax.

Koch created decisive methodological foundations of bacteriological research.

These include the development of solid media for breeding bacteria and the introduction of photomicrography, which has contributed significantly to the spread of bacteriology in medical science.

In addition, he discovered the anthrax spores, the resting form of the pathogen, and thus explained the hitherto unreasonable chain of infection and the high resistance of the bacterium to environmental factors.

Thus Robert Koch was the first to prove the connection of a microorganism as the cause of an infectious disease.

Robert Koch received the Nobel Prize in Medicine 112 years ago

Later he succeeded, among other things, the detection of the bacterium Vibrio cholerae, the causative agent of cholera. In addition, he devoted himself to the study of other tropical diseases.

In 1905, Robert Koch, the father of bacteriology in addition to the Frenchman Louis Pasteur, received the Nobel Prize for Medicine "in recognition of his investigations and discoveries in the field of tuberculosis".

On May 27, 1910, the scientist died in Baden-Baden after a severe heart attack, which he had suffered in early April 1910 in Berlin.

Countless lives saved

"Koch may have understood better than anyone else at the time that the keys to solving big problems sometimes lie in their microcosms," Google writes.

He devoted his life to the study of germs and how they cause infectious diseases.

"Thanks to his role in demonstrating the revolutionary idea that germs cause disease and identifying the bacterium for anthrax, cholera and tuberculosis, countless lives have been saved," says the report in honor of the German explorer.

He also inspired a new generation of scientists and "microbial hunters" who ushered in a golden age of bacteriology.

During this time, researchers discovered the microorganisms responsible for the development of twenty-one different diseases.

"Once the right method has been found, discoveries are as easy as ripe apples from a tree," Koch is quoted by Google.

Today's doodle shows, among other things, potato slices - original utensils with which the scientist isolated pure bacterial cells to support his research.

Koch experimented with potato slices until his assistant Julius Petri invented the Petri dish. (Ad)