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Portrait of Robert Koch

Science · Biology

Robert Koch

1843–1910 · German

Bacteriology; microbiology

Robert Koch was a German physician who, with Louis Pasteur, founded modern bacteriology. Working first as a country doctor, he proved that a specific bacterium causes anthrax, then identified the bacteria responsible for tuberculosis (1882) and cholera (1883). He developed techniques for growing pure cultures and set out Koch's postulates for linking a microbe to a disease, and won the 1905 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on tuberculosis.

How to spot them

  • ▸Koch's postulates for proving that a microbe causes a disease
  • ▸Discovered the tubercle bacillus in 1882; 24 March is World Tuberculosis Day
  • ▸Found the cholera bacterium in Egypt and India
  • ▸Country doctor in Wollstein who studied anthrax with a microscope given by his wife
  • ▸Nobel Prize 1905; the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin

Key discoveries & works

Proof that a bacillus causes anthrax, including its spore life cycle (1876)

Grew the bacillus outside the body and showed how its resistant spores spread the disease

Discovery of the bacterium that causes tuberculosis (1882)

Announced to the Berlin Physiological Society on 24 March 1882

Discovery of the cholera bacterium (Vibrio cholerae) in Egypt and India (1883–1884)

Led the German Cholera Commission and linked the disease to contaminated water

Postulates for proving a specific microbe causes a specific disease (1880s)

The organism must be found in every case, isolated in pure culture, cause the disease when inoculated, and be recovered again

Tuberculin (1890)

Extract of tubercle bacilli claimed as a TB cure; it failed as treatment but became a diagnostic skin test

Pure culture of bacteria on solid media (1881)

Grew isolated colonies on solid media such as potato slices and gelatin, later agar in dishes devised by his assistant Julius Petri

Key ideas

  • Specific diseases are caused by specific microorganisms
  • Rigorous laboratory methods (staining, photomicrography, pure culture) are essential to prove disease causation
  • Epidemics such as cholera can be controlled through clean water and hygiene

Quick-fire facts

  • •Born in Clausthal in the Harz mountains, Kingdom of Hanover; died in Baden-Baden
  • •Studied medicine at Göttingen under Jacob Henle
  • •Did his anthrax research while District Medical Officer in Wollstein (now Wolsztyn, Poland), using a microscope from his wife
  • •Won the 1905 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his investigations and discoveries on tuberculosis
  • •Headed the Institute for Infectious Diseases in Berlin, founded 1891 and now the Robert Koch Institute
  • •His colleagues and pupils included Paul Ehrlich, Emil von Behring, Kitasato Shibasaburō and Friedrich Loeffler
  • •The petri dish is named after his assistant Julius Petri, and agar was suggested by Fanny Hesse
  • •Carried on a famous rivalry with Louis Pasteur

Drill it — 8 cards

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Sources