Famous researchers and scientists, discoverers who forever inscribed their names in the annals of science, often ahead of their time and therefore remained incomprehensible. Louis Pasteur, a brief biography of which will be discussed below, is just one of such personalities. He lived a difficult life, was forced to fight for the right to do science, but managed to win and give offspring microbiology, immunology and other, equally useful achievements. Let's get acquainted with his life path.
Birth and the first years of life
Even a brief biography for the children of Louis Pasteur allows you to make sure that this person possessed outstanding talents and a unique mentality. He was born in 1822, December 27, in the small French town of Dole, in the family of leather craftsmen.
years of education
The future discoverer of microbiology began his studies at a college in Arbois, where he was the youngest student. Already in his first educational institution, Louis managed to achieve impressive successes, becoming an assistant teacher. Then he realized that a lot depends on hard work and perseverance. Then he studied science at a college in the Paris Lyceum of Saint-Louis and at the same time attended lectures at the Sorbonne. Having brilliantly graduated from college, young Pasteur continued his education at the Higher Normal School, where he studied science. In one year, he managed to defend two doctoral dissertations at once and receive the title of professor in physics and chemistry.
First steps in work
In a brief biography of Louis Pasteur, you should definitely talk about his early works. So, the great chemist worked at several universities with the rank of professor, then he received the post of dean in his own educational institution, Vyshoy Normal School. The researcher turns out to be a very strict leader, significantly tightens the rules for admission to school and the requirements for a graduate, which made the institution more solid. Under the age of 40, Pasteur was already widely known in the scientific community for his innovative work:
- Works on organic crystallography laid the foundation for the modern science of stereochemistry.
- He was able to study in detail the fermentation process and identify its biological nature. It was Louis Pasteur who established that living microorganisms, special yeast fungi, are responsible for the process of turning wine into vinegar.
In the future, the chemist continued the study of pasteurization, proposing to process the wine by exposure to high temperatures for its preservation.
Research
The next stage in the life of Louis Pasteur, a brief biography and photo of which is presented in this material, is work in the field of medicine. So, studying the causes of death of silkworm worms, he learned under a microscope to separate healthy individuals from patients. This led the researcher to the idea that in the same way it is possible to influence pathogens in the human body. If you introduce a special serum to the patient, you can weaken the effect of the microbe and even develop immunity to the patient from it.
Pasteur and his students conducted numerous experiments that allowed a comprehensive study of the nature of vaccines. So, he managed to find a cure for such serious diseases as anthrax, rabies and rubella of pigs, chicken cholera. In those days, these viral infections claimed many lives. The first success in vaccination was the vaccination of a 9-year-old boy who was thus saved from rabies.
Accusations
Like any person ahead of his time, a brilliant scientist was accused of quackery. His teaching on vaccination was not popular with researchers who did not want to open their minds to new trends. Therefore, in a brief biography and discoveries of Louis Pasteur, hard times came. Carrying out vaccinations, the scientist could not help the little girl bitten by a dog and contacted after more than 35 days. The vaccine was powerless, and the child died. Therefore, absurd accusations fell on Pasteur that the scientist was not doing good to people, but was spreading rabies. In some cities where vaccination stations were set up, crowds rampaged, threatening to destroy medical facilities. All this undermined the health of the great scientist.
At his own expense, Pasteur founded the Pasteur Institute in Paris, but could no longer work there.
Death
Louis Pasteur left this world in 1895, on September 28, at the age of 72. The cause of death of the researcher is called a series of strokes that almost completely destroyed his body.
Until his death, he remained faithful to his ideas and sought to help people. Louis Pasteur was buried in the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, later he was reburied in the crypt of the institute he created.
Features of teaching younger students
Of particular interest is a brief biography of Louis Pasteur for grade 3. The teacher has a difficult but interesting task not only to tell about the discoveries of a great man, but also to display the key features of his personality. So, what should be told first of all to third graders?
- Born into a simple working-class family, Louis Pasteur did not follow in the footsteps of his father, a tanner, choosing a different path for himself.
- It must be noted that this person studied and worked all his life, did not give up even at the time of his illness and when his work was not openly accepted, accusing the researcher of quackery.
- His role is truly great in such sciences as chemistry, physics, medicine and biology.
- The brilliant researcher made his first discoveries as a student, being ahead of not only teachers, but also his time.
- Louis Pasteur had to endure the recognition of his own merits, and unjust reproaches, but nothing could break his craving for knowledge and thirst for discovery.
- The scientist was friendly with many Russian researchers, who subsequently continued his great work.
You can also include in the learning process a selection of interesting facts and list the discoveries themselves. This will help students evaluate the contribution to the science of this ingenious person.
Interesting Facts
We already got acquainted with a brief biography of Louis Pasteur. Interesting facts are presented below:
- He was not only an outstanding scientist, researcher, but also a gifted artist, so he managed to immortalize portraits of his mother and sisters on canvases.
- Spouse Pastera gave birth to five children, but three of them died in infancy from incurable typhoid fever in those days. This was one of the main reasons that prompted Pasteur to study methods of treating dangerous diseases.
- He was a conscientious Catholic, fully taking on faith this religious teaching.
- For most of his life, Louis Pasteur dealt with the treatment of patients without a medical education.
- He made his most significant discoveries as an invalid: from a brain hemorrhage, 45-year-old Pasteur remained almost completely paralyzed in the left half, his arm and leg did not move. Nevertheless, the scientist continued his work and managed to save many lives.
The life of this outstanding person cannot be called easy, which is why his perseverance, industriousness and determination are especially striking.
Discoveries
A brief biography of Louis Pasteur in English or Russian necessarily illuminates the discoveries made by this great man.
- So, he managed to prove that specific microorganisms are responsible for fermentation, this became a new trend in the science of that time. Before Pasteur, it was generally accepted that fermentation is a chemical process.
- It was this talented microbiologist who discovered the existence of microorganisms that can live without oxygen. It is they that cause butyric acid fermentation, leading to damage to wine and beer. Therefore, in order to save drinks, Pasteur proposed the use of oxygen, harmful to such organisms.
- The ingenious scientist was able to refute another theory that reigned in his time - about the spontaneous generation of bacteria. So, researchers of the 19th century believed that the body can arise from nothing, by itself. And Louis Pasteur, whose brief biography is coming to an end in our material, conducted an interesting experiment that proved the failure of this concept. He placed the nutrient solution in a vessel with a curved neck, life did not appear there, despite all the necessary conditions, since bacterial spores settled on the fractures of the neck. And if, other things being equal, the neck was removed, then soon signs of living things appeared in the nutrient solution . For this discovery, Louis Pasteur received an award from the French Academy of Sciences.
- Helped winemakers to deal with product diseases by teaching them to heat wine at high temperatures. Subsequently, the method was called pasteurization, and it now helps to extend the shelf life of many food products, preserving their taste and nutritional value. But to store pasteurized substances should be at low temperatures.
- The first offered preventive vaccinations, which are still being done.
All this makes the scientist's contribution to the development of science and medicine invaluable.
We examined a brief biography of Louis Pasteur and his discoveries and saw that he was not just a man of outstanding intelligence, but also a very hardworking researcher who tried to get to the truth, despite the prevailing ridiculous theories prevailing in his years, which many people blindly accepted on faith. Now many educational institutions are named after the great microbiologist, like one of the craters of the moon.