Wikinventia — Atlas of discoveries and inventions · Industrial Age

Tuberculosis bacillus and causal bacteriology — Robert Koch

1882 AD · Transmission: Global
MedicineTheoryGermanic

On 24 March 1882 Robert Koch presented to the Berlin Physiological Society the isolation of the tuberculosis bacillus, along with its culture, staining, and the complete demonstration of the infection cycle in animals. In a single session he laid out what would become known as Koch's Postulates: the method for establishing causality between a microorganism and a disease. Tuberculosis was then killing one in seven people in Europe. Koch did not create an effective vaccine, but he provided the causal, experimental framework without which the BCG vaccine — developed four decades later — could not have been conceived. In 1905 he received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

Historical regionBerlin, Germany
Primary sourceAnnouncement of the isolation of the tuberculosis bacillus to the Berlin Physiological Society, 24 March 1882. Published: Koch, R. — "Die Ätiologie der Tuberkulose" (Berliner Klinische Wochenschrift, 1882)
Secondary sourceBritannica — https://www.britannica.com/biography/Robert-Koch/Studies-of-tuberculosis-and-cholera
Original languageGerman
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