Koch is a biologist. Koch's discoveries
Robert Koch - distinguished researcher, microbial menace, author fundamental works, whose contributions to science and methods of work became important to many inquisitive minds who followed him. Paul de Cruy wrote:
“The first of all researchers, the first of all people who have ever lived in the world, Koch proved that certain type microbe causes a certain disease and that small miserable bacilli can easily become the killers of a large formidable animal.”
Childhood and youth
The researcher’s biography confirms that he was passionate about wildlife and science early childhood. Koch was born on December 11, 1843 in the resort town of Clausthal-Zellerfeld in Lower Saxony. The house where the future luminary of microbiology was born is now a museum and a prominent landmark on the university campus. Father Herman worked as a mining engineer and was in the mine management. Mining was main industry, which stimulated the development of the region.
Julian's mother Matilda Henrietta was the daughter of the chief inspector of the Kingdom of Hanover, Heinrich Andreas Bivende, and was completely absorbed in caring for her offspring: 13 children were born into the Koch family, Robert became the third.
Grandfather Heinrich maternal line- an educated man and a successful official, had irresistible craving to nature, was considered an amateur naturalist. Having noticed the inquisitive mind of his grandson, he instilled a love for his hobby and partly predetermined future path boy. Young Koch loved to collect insects, collected mosses, and took apart and assembled toys with interest.
![](https://i0.wp.com/24smi.org/public/media/resize/800x-/2018/10/19/105_zGCOxzV.jpg)
Robert's education was easy - he figured out writing and reading even before he entered the primary school before reaching 5 years of age. Later he studied at the Clausthal gymnasium, where he deservedly received the title of best student in the class. In 1862, 19-year-old Robert successfully passed the exams at the University of Göttingen. Georg-August is a classic German university with strong academic traditions, associated with the activities of over 40 Nobel laureates.
Koch subsequently noted that discussions about microbes and scientific works Göttingen teachers seriously influenced his passion for science. The teaching staff included the pathologist Friedrich Henle, who discovered a loop in the nephron of the kidney, later named after him, and the physiologist Georg Meissner, who was immortalized in the name of one of the plexuses of the enteric nervous system of the hollow organs of the gastrointestinal tract.
![](https://i0.wp.com/24smi.org/public/media/resize/800x-/2018/10/19/107_03aoRDl.jpg)
For 2 months, Koch studied natural sciences, including biology, and then took up medicine. After 4 years he receives a doctor's diploma. For several years, the young doctor has been moving around Germany in vain in search of a suitable city for private practice. Finally, in 1869, he settled in the town of Rackwitz and got a job as an assistant in a hospital for the mentally ill.
Medicine and scientific activities
IN psychiatric clinic Koch did not work in Rakvitsa for long. In 1870, the Franco-Prussian War broke out. Robert became a field hospital doctor. In the most difficult conditions, he gains invaluable experience, including in curing infectious diseases, outbreaks of which occurred constantly. In the fire of war, he finds time for research, studying microbes and algae. In a year he will be demobilized and that’s it free time devotes himself to the study of microorganisms, completely losing interest in medical practice.
![](https://i1.wp.com/24smi.org/public/media/resize/800x-/2018/10/19/106_Xq2dRkg.jpg)
In 1872 he was appointed district doctor in Wolstein (now Wolsztyn in Poland). To Koch's delight, an epidemic was raging in the region at that time anthrax, mowing down the livestock of local farmers. Aware of the experiments of Louis Pasteur, he also decided to investigate a dangerous disease.
Countless experiments and hours at the microscope later, he was the first to identify the bacterium Bacillus anthracis, the causative agent of the disease, in its pure form, and also studied it in detail life cycle. In the crops, the scientist discovered sticks, threads and spores that thrived in moist soil. Thus, Koch scientifically explained the appearance of “death mounds” - burial places dangerous for humans and animals for those infected with anthrax.
![](https://i0.wp.com/24smi.org/public/media/resize/800x-/2018/10/19/101_R3sRC2D.jpg)
Four years later, at the University of Breslau (now the Polish city of Wroclaw), the discoveries were made public. A major role in the publication was played by botanist-bacteriologist Ferdinand Kohn and pathophysiologist Julius Konheim, in whose laboratory Koch first spoke about the new research methods of microbiology that had been invented. It is curious that among the audience was Paul Ehrlich, the future “father” of chemotherapy.
In 1880, with the support of Conheim, he received the position of government adviser in the Imperial Health Department in Berlin. A year later, he published a revolutionary work, “Methods for the Study of Pathogenic Organisms,” where he proved that the separation of microbes and the identification of pure cultures can be conveniently carried out on solid nutrient media, and not in nutrient broth, as was the case before.
![](https://i1.wp.com/24smi.org/public/media/resize/800x-/2018/10/19/108_44cYLaD.jpg)
The fundamental discovery happened by accident. Koch left a cut potato in the laboratory, and the next morning he discovered colonies on the cut that lived in isolation and did not mix. Later, the scientist used gelatin, agar-agar and a number of other nutrient solid media, which were discovered by microbiologists new level research.
The contribution to science did not stop there. Koch owns a method for studying bacteria by staining. Before him, microbes were considered colorless, and if their density coincided with the density of the environment, then the organisms became completely invisible. Robert used aniline dyes, which selectively imparted color only to microbes. This became the starting point in the formation new area microbiology about the tinctorial properties of different microbes - their ability to “color rendering”.
![](https://i1.wp.com/24smi.org/public/media/resize/800x-/2018/10/19/01_kTQDI6x.jpg)
Finally, an immersion lens. By immersing the objective in oil and using more curved lenses, the scientist brought the microscope's magnifying power to 1,400 times at a time when 500 times was the limit. The researcher combined evidence of the relationship between the microorganism and the disease it causes into a series of postulates called the Koch Triad.
All of them, with some amendments, are still relevant today:
- the microbe is always detected in a patient with a certain infection and is absent in others;
- the microbe must be isolated in its pure form and viewed as a whole microorganism;
- individuals infected with the microbe in its pure form exhibit symptoms similar to those of patients; they are determined by the number and distribution of pathogens
Koch's contemporaries are the greatest minds of mankind, for example, Louis Pasteur, with whom, however, the scientist was at enmity. For several years, the geniuses of microbiology have been incinerating each other in articles and critical scientific essays. Robert is 20 years younger than Louis, but he put forward theories that undermined the latter’s authority.
![](https://i0.wp.com/24smi.org/public/media/resize/800x-/2018/10/19/01_8hkSUqY.jpg)
In the 1880s, tuberculosis killed every 7th inhabitant of Germany. The massive nature of the disease and poor knowledge about the etiology led to huge mortality rates. At that time, illness was opposed Fresh air And healthy eating. Koch could not ignore such a worthy “rival”.
With his characteristic obsession, having carried out a series of experiments and studies on the tissues of the dead, staining and doing cultures, the scientist was able to discern bright blue colored rods in the nutrient medium - Koch's bacilli. Having tested your hypothesis on guinea pigs, Koch proved that it was they that caused the disease, which he reported on March 24, 1882 at a conference in Berlin.
![](https://i2.wp.com/24smi.org/public/media/resize/800x-/2018/10/19/110_jLRaZsA.jpg)
Despite the many other discoveries he made about the course of diseases, it was tuberculosis that remained a stumbling block for Koch. Until the end of his life he dealt with the problem of the disease. He invented sterile tuberculin, a liquid that could help in treatment. Alas, the drug had no therapeutic effect, but became an excellent diagnostic tool. For “research and discoveries concerning the treatment of tuberculosis” in 1905 he was awarded Nobel Prize.
In 1882, he also published information about the bacillus that causes acute epidemic conjunctivitis, known as the Koch-Wicks bacillus - another item on the list of the scientist’s merits. A year later he was sent as part of a research expedition to Egypt and India, where cholera was rampant. The scientist was looking for the causative agent of a dangerous disease and found it.
![](https://i0.wp.com/24smi.org/public/media/resize/800x-/2018/10/19/02_IMFFMjL.jpg)
Having discovered a similar microorganism shaped like a comma in numerous samples, Koch introduced Vibrio cholerae to the world.
“The idea that microorganisms must be the cause of infectious diseases has long been expressed by a few outstanding minds,” wrote Robert Koch. “But this was difficult to prove in an irrefutable way at first.”
![](https://i2.wp.com/24smi.org/public/media/resize/800x-/2018/10/19/109_NICvoHo.jpg)
In 1889, together with Shibasaburo Kitasato, he identified the causative agent of tetanus in its pure form. At the age of 41, the microbiologist became a professor at the University of Berlin and director of the newly formed Institute of Hygiene. In 1891 he headed the Institute of Infectious Diseases, later named after him.
Since 1896, the scientist went on scientific expeditions: to India, Africa, Java, Italy, New Guinea. In 1904, he resigned from the post of director of the institute in order to immerse himself in the study of information obtained during his trips. Plague, relapsing fever, sleeping sickness, malaria - the most dangerous microbes “fell” under the lens of his microscope until 1907. In 1909, Koch read his last report on tuberculosis. In 1910, the scientist died.
Personal life
In wide circles he had a reputation as a closed and suspicious person, an introvert by nature, but his relatives and friends who were part of his circle of trust knew him differently in his personal life: a kind, sensitive, chess-loving genius.
![](https://i0.wp.com/24smi.org/public/media/resize/800x-/2018/10/19/103_q1go8yK.jpg)
His first wife was Emma Adelphine Josephine Fratz, whom he married in 1867. The union produced a daughter, Gertrude. It was Emma who gave Koch a microscope for his 28th birthday.
In 1893, Robert divorced and entered into new marriage. The second wife is the young actress Hedwig Freiburg. The couple had no children.
Death
The scientist died in Baden-Baden at the age of 66. heart attack.
![](https://i1.wp.com/24smi.org/public/media/resize/800x-/2018/10/19/109_TU30vSa.jpg)
While the researcher was still alive, in 1907, the Robert Koch Foundation appeared in Berlin. The prize and gold medal awarded to him are prestigious international awards in Biomedical Sciences. In addition to honorary regalia, laureates are also awarded impressive cash grants. Some Koch Prize winners went on to win the Nobel Prize.
Robert Koch is a famous German scientist who discovered tubercle bacilli - microorganisms that provoke such dangerous disease like tuberculosis.
However, this is far from the only scientific feat that the famous scientist can boast of.
Robert Koch made discoveries that radically changed modern life. scientific medicine and helped her fight such dangerous diseases as cholera and anthrax.
In 1905, R. Koch received the Nobel Prize for discovering tuberculosis bacillus and made a great contribution to the fight against tuberculosis.
From early childhood, his parents saw the makings of a researcher in the boy, and his high-ranking grandfather, who held an important government post, once said prophetic words that his little grandson would definitely become a great scientist when he grew up.
Having barely reached the age of four, the parents send the little genius to school, which he graduates with honors and is transferred to a gymnasium, and from there to the University of Göttingen, where he studies medicine under the guidance of such famous scientific figures of the time as K. Hesse, J. Henle and G. Meissner.
It was these professors who managed to ignite young man great interest in science such as microbiology.
After graduating from the institute in 1866, the future Nobel laureate began to practice medicine.
He tries himself in one hospital or another and at the same time tries to open a private practice, but to no avail. At one point, the newly minted doctor decides to give up everything and go to trip around the world as a flight surgeon on a warship.
However, his lofty dreams were not destined to come true. Instead of going to explore new lands, Robert gets a job as an assistant at the Rakvitsa clinic for the insane. At the same time, he meets the love of his life and gets married.
Everything changes in 1870, when the Franco-Prussian War began. At this time, Koch quit his practice at the clinic and went to work in a field hospital.
It was in this hospital that he gained extensive medical experience, treating cholera, typhoid fever and other infectious diseases.
A year later, the aspiring scientist resigned. He had just turned 28 years old. For his birthday, his wife gave Koch his first microscope.
Since then, he has practically not engaged in medical practice, but has completely focused on conducting scientific research, turning his own house to a real laboratory.
Anthrax research
The anthrax bacterium was first discovered by Robert Koch. He studied it, along with research into tuberculosis and cholera, until the end of his life.
It was thanks to his experiments that not only the bacterium Bacillus anthracis, which causes such a dangerous disease as anthrax, was isolated, but also a microscopic photo of it was taken.
The scientist proved that one bacterium can very quickly develop into a large colony, so the disease progresses at lightning speed. Bacillus anthracis has high viability and is resistant to various methods treatment.
Even with the correct actions of the doctor, the patient is highly likely to die. The disease itself retains its vitality over a long period of time.
To destroy it in an autoclave, it is necessary to expose the bacillus to temperatures above 100 degrees Celsius for 40 minutes.
The microorganism that causes anthrax can live in the droppings of infected animals for several years.
Thanks to research and publications scientific works In the field of studying anthrax, the German scientist gained wide fame. But it was tuberculosis – Koch’s bacillus – that brought him real fame.
Robert Koch received the greatest fame for his discovery of the causative agent of tuberculosis.
Thanks to his experiments, he proved that this disease is caused by the mycobacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and the carrier of the disease is a person infected with this bacillus.
To detect this pathogen and prove that in tuberculosis the causative agent is not a virus, but a bacterium, the scientist had to conduct more than one test.
He looked for the key to solving this puzzle not only in the course of the disease itself, but also by observing the biological material secreted by sick patients.
Fortunately, he had plenty of material, since at that time the doctor worked at the Charité clinic in Berlin.
Long time to the future Nobel laureate nothing could be discovered. But he continued to be firmly convinced that with tuberculosis key role It’s not the virus that’s playing.
Conducting another test, Koch realized that to detect the tuberculosis bacterium, he needed to use a dye, since perhaps the microorganism that causes this disease is colorless.
After racking his brains for several months, the scientist managed to come up with a dye that helped him see what the tuberculosis pathogen looks like. He was able to see it when he carried out the next test.
It was then that the researcher became convinced that the cause of the disease was not a virus, but a microbacterium, which was later called Koch’s bacillus.
How can you become infected with tuberculosis?
This disease is transmitted by people whose bodies are infected with the tuberculosis bacillus. Without proper treatment, depending on the form, the patient can live no more than six months.
Timely and appropriate anti-tuberculosis therapy guarantees a recovery process that takes from several months to several years.
The test showed that the main route of transmission of Mycobacterium tuberculosis is airborne. The pathogen is spread through the air when a sick person coughs, sneezes or blows their nose.
You can become infected not only through direct contact with a carrier, but also simply, for example, by visiting an apartment where the patient lived and proper disinfection measures were not taken in the room.
How long does the tuberculosis bacillus live?
Many people are interested in what temperature Mycobacterium tuberculosis dies at and how long Koch’s bacillus lives. The test showed that Koch's bacillus dies when exposed to a temperature of 85 °C.
However, it is recommended that items that may be contaminated with this bacteria be autoclaved at 110°C for at least 40 minutes.
IN environment, where it is warm enough and not sunlight, the microorganism can live almost as long as the virus - up to 7 years.
Today scientists are actively looking for new, more effective means fight against tuberculosis. To do this, they specially cultivate tuberculosis bacteria in the laboratory.
Each of them lives his life, making his own anti-tuberculosis contribution to the history of medicine, helping not only in general to fight this dangerous disease, but also within each individual tuberculosis dispensary in many countries of the world.
Robert Koch's influence on science
In addition to studying anthrax and tuberculosis, Koch was actively involved in the study of cholera, as a result of which he was able to identify the causative agent of this disease and understand, along with what Koch’s bacillus is afraid of, how to destroy Vibrio cholerae.
He is the author of such concepts as the Koch triad (a method for proving that a microorganism is the cause of the disease) and the Koch test, which determines the presence of tuberculosis in a patient and the degree of its development.
Thus, the great German scientist made a huge and invaluable contribution to the development of medicine, thanks to which he was rightly awarded the Nobel Prize.
Department of Social and Historical Sciences
ABSTRACT
On the history of medicine
Robert Koch and his contribution to the development of microbiology and epidemiology
Performed:
Student of group 16,
1st year, Faculty of Medicine
Puzrenkova Yulia Dmitrievna
Checked:
teacher
Batanina Olga Vladimirovna
Novosibirsk, 2013
Plan
Introduction
The beginning of the journey…………………………………………………………………………………...4
Robert Koch and his discoveries……………………………………………………….. 5
· Anthrax……………………………………………………………… 5
· Koch's stick……………..…………………………………………………………………… 7
· Koch's postulates……………………………………………………………...8
Conclusion
Bibliography
Application
Introduction
This topic, in my opinion, is very relevant. After all, for a long time a person lived surrounded by “invisible creatures”, used them, or rather the products of their vital activity (for example, when baking bread from sour dough), suffered from them when these creatures caused illnesses or spoiled food supplies, but did not suspect about their presence. And only thanks to the pioneers of microbiology who became interested in this topic, we have an idea of the root causes of the phenomena described above.
One of these people is Robert Koch (Heinrich Hermann Robert Koch) (1843-1910) - a German doctor and microbiologist, one of the founders of modern bacteriology and epidemiology.
The purpose of this abstract is to study the contribution of R. Koch to the development of microbiology. To achieve the goal, the following tasks had to be solved:
1. consider the development of Robert Koch’s personality in a historical context;
2. consider scientific discoveries R. Koha;
3. analyze the importance of the scientist’s research for medicine and biology.
this work consists of an introduction, conclusion and two chapters divided into paragraphs. The materials for writing this essay were: tutorial“Medical Microbiology” (Pozdeev O.K.), the journal “Microbiology, Epidemiology and Immunology”, as well as a number of other sources given in the list of references.
The beginning of the way
Robert Koch (Heinrich Hermann Robert Koch) (1843-1910) - German doctor and microbiologist, one of the founders of modern bacteriology and epidemiology, foreign corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1884).
Robert Koch (add., fig. 1) was born on December 11, 1843 in Clausthal-Zellerfeld. His parents were Hermann Koch, who worked in the mine administration, and Matilda Julia Henrietta Koch (Bivend). There were 13 children in the family, Robert was the third oldest child. Precocious, Robert began to be interested in nature early and collected a collection of mosses, lichens, insects and minerals. His grandfather, mother's father, and uncle were amateur naturalists and encouraged the boy's interest in studying the natural sciences.
When Robert entered the local primary school in 1848, he already knew how to read and write. He studied easily and in 1851 entered the Clausthal gymnasium. Four years later he was already the first student in his class, and in 1862 he graduated from high school.
Immediately after graduating from high school, Robert Koch entered the University of Göttingen, where he studied for two semesters. natural Sciences, physics and botany, and then began to study medicine. The most important role in shaping Koch's interest in scientific research Many of his university teachers played the role, including the anatomist Jacob Henle, the physiologist Georg Meisener and the clinician Karl Hesse. These scientists took part in discussions about microbes and the nature of various diseases, and the young Koch became interested in this problem.
Robert Koch and his discoveries
anthrax
Robert Koch began his work as a bacteriologist with the study of anthrax, epizootic 1 (widespread spread of an infectious disease among one or many animal species in certain territory, significantly exceeding the level of morbidity usually recorded in this territory) which broke out in the Prussian town of Wolstein in the Bomst district, where he worked as a district doctor.
During this period, an anthrax epidemic occurred in the city of Bomst (add., Fig. 2). Koch found rods in sick sheep. He worked in a room he rented and where he also received patients. In dead mice, R. Koch found the same sticks and thin threads curling into balls as in sick sheep. A hypothesis arose about the transfer of anthrax by microorganisms he found.
To prove his hypothesis, he did cultures on a nutrient medium. By placing pieces of the spleen of infected mice in a hanging drop of the anterior chamber fluid of a bull's eye, he observed the growth of the pathogen, sporulation, and spore germination. The message “Etiology of Anthrax,” sent on May 27, 1876 to the famous bacteriologist and author of one of the classifications of bacteria Fernand Cohn, created a sensation, and despite the negative position of the pillars of German medicine of that time (Rudolf Vikhrov and Max Pettenkofer), it was recognized as a world discovery.
It is instructive to compare the approaches of Pasteur and Koch to solving scientific problems. Numerous critics and Koch himself accused Pasteur of being a “happy accident” of his discoveries. If Pasteur often replaced the lack of factual data with the highest intuition (for example, when studying fermentation), then Robert meticulously sought to obtain all necessary factors microbial origin of infectious diseases. Disagreeing with Pasteur in many respects, he understood that the discovery of the pathogen could be questioned, since according to the conditions of his experiments it was impossible to conclude that a truly pure culture of microbes had been obtained.
The method of diluting microbial cultures that existed at that time was labor-intensive and unreliable. Great prospects discovered the observations of I. Schröter about the ability of bacteria to form separate clusters - colonies on potatoes, paste or egg whites.
Initially, Koch settled on potato plates, but they had disadvantages: mobile bacteria moved quietly on a damp surface, the substrate used was opaque, which made it difficult to study colonies, and in addition, not all bacteria were able to grow on potatoes. Koch later began using gelatin, but many bacteria hydrolyzed the gelatin, liquefying the substrate, so gelatin had to be replaced with agar.
Koch then transferred bacteria from individual colonies into test tubes with gelatin frozen at an angle, obtaining pure culture colonies. The capabilities of the method of isolating pure cultures on solid nutrient media made it possible to clearly establish the etiological role of a particular pathogen and study its properties, which was impossible to do with broth cultures used until that time. Further, based on the experience of isolating pure cultures of pathogens, Koch developed the basic theoretical and practical principles carrying out disinfection.
Koch stick
After Koch finds the causative agent of anthrax, he decides to start searching for the causative agent of tuberculosis (add., Fig. 3). The proximity of the Charite clinic, filled with tuberculosis patients, makes his task easier - every day, early in the morning, he comes to the hospital, where he receives material for research: not a large number of sputum or a few drops of patients' blood. However, despite the abundance of material, he still fails to detect the causative agent of the disease.
Koch soon realizes that the only way to achieve his goal is with the help of dyes. Unfortunately, ordinary dyes turn out to be too weak, but after several months of unsuccessful work, he still manages to find the necessary substances.
Koch grinds the tubercular tissue, stains it in methylene blue, then in Vesuvin (a caustic red-brown dye used for finishing leather), and looks. Clear blue tiny, slightly curved rods of an unusually beautiful hue become clearly visible on the preparation. Some of them float between cellular substance, some sit inside cells. Not believing himself, Koch again turns the micrometer screw, puts on and takes off his glasses again, presses his eye close to the eyepiece, gets up from his chair and looks while standing. The picture doesn't change.
This was already approximately the two hundred and seventy-first drug, Koch writes in his diary. And only now does it dawn on him what actually happened: he discovered the causative agent of tuberculosis, a universal scarecrow about which there was so much controversy.
Koch's postulates
Koch achieved his greatest triumph on March 24, 1882, when he announced that he had isolated the bacterium that causes tuberculosis. In Koch's publications on tuberculosis problems, principles were first outlined, which then became known as Koch's postulates:
1. The microorganism is detected in each case of a specific suspected disease.
3. After isolation from the patient’s body and isolation of a pure culture, the pathogenic microorganism should cause a similar disease in a susceptible animal.
Currently, this triad has largely lost its significance, since it is of little use in relation to viral infections, the causative agents of which are difficult to isolate from the patient’s body. In addition, Koch's postulates are not necessary for some diseases (for example, typhoid fever, gonorrhea, malaria, etc.).
In 1885, Koch became a professor at the University of Berlin and director of the newly created Institute of Hygiene. At the same time, he continued his research into tuberculosis, focusing on finding ways to treat the disease. In 1890, he announced that such a method had been found.
Koch isolated the so-called tuberculin (a sterile liquid containing substances produced by the tuberculosis bacillus during growth), which caused an allergic reaction in patients with tuberculosis. However, in fact, tuberculin was not used to treat tuberculosis, since it did not have a special therapeutic effect, and its administration was accompanied by toxic reactions, which became the reason for its sharpest criticism. Protests against the use of tuberculin subsided only when it was discovered that the tuberculin test could be used in the diagnosis of tuberculosis. This discovery played big role in the fight against tuberculosis in cows, was main reason awarding Koch the Nobel Prize in 1905.
Conclusion
Thus, the German physician Robert Koch made a great contribution to the development of microbiology. Robert Koch's discoveries contributed invaluable contribution in the development of healthcare. In the emerging era of bacteriology, R. Koch carried out a number of major studies, which allowed his contemporaries to call the scientist the “father of bacteriology”:
· a technique was developed for obtaining pure cultures of microorganisms in the form of individual colonies on solid nutrient media, which made it possible to isolate and study a number of microorganisms;
· methods for staining microorganisms have been developed;
· disinfection methods have been developed;
· infection of experimental animals was introduced into laboratory practice to isolate pure cultures of pathogenic microbes;
discovered and studied the causative agent of human tuberculosis and large cattle(Koch stick);
· the causative agent of anthrax was discovered;
· developed a method for cultivating microorganisms on solid nutrient media
Thus, it can be argued that R. Koch laid the foundations of modern methods of microbiological research, and also made an invaluable contribution to the development of microbiological science and medicine.
Bibliography:
1. Journal “Microbiology, Epidemiology and Immunology” No. 11/2, Moscow 1972, pp. 14-17
2. Internet source “Wikipedia” / http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koch,_Robert
3. Pozdeev O.K. “Medical microbiology”: textbook./Edited by V.I. Pokrovsky. – 4th edition, 2008, pp. 14-16
4. S.A. Blinkin “People of Great Courage” (Moscow 1963)
Application
Rice. 1 Robert Koch
Rice. 2 Anthrax
Rice. 3 Tuberculosis bacillus
Epizootic is a large-scale spread of an infectious disease among one or many species of animals in a certain territory, significantly exceeding the incidence rate usually recorded in this territory.
Date of Birth:
December 11, 1843
Place of Birth:
Clausthal-Zellerfeld, Prussia
Date of death:
27 May 1910 (age 66)
A place of death:
Baden Baden
A country:
Germany
Scientific field:
Microbiology
Place of work:
University of Berlin, Institute of Hygiene
Alma mater:
University of Göttingen
Famous students:
Johannes Fibiger, August Wasserman
Known as:
tuberculosis researcher
Awards and prizes
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1905
Heinrich Hermann Robert Koch (German: Heinrich Hermann Robert Koch; December 11, 1843, Clausthal-Zellerfeld - May 27, 1910, Baden-Baden) - German microbiologist. He discovered the anthrax bacillus, Vibrio cholera and the tuberculosis bacillus. For his research on tuberculosis he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1905.
Early life
Robert Koch was born on December 11, 1843 in Clausthal-Zellerfeld, the son of Hermann and Mathilde Henriette Koch. He was the third of thirteen children. Father - mining engineer Herman Koch, worked in the management of local mines. Mother, Juliana Matilda Henrietta Koch, née Bivend - daughter high-ranking official Heinrich Andreas Bivend, chief inspector of the Kingdom of Hanover. It was he who saw the makings of a researcher in his inquisitive grandson. From childhood, encouraged by his grandfather (mother's father) and uncle - amateur naturalists, he was interested in nature.
In 1848 he went to the local primary school. At this time he already knew how to read and write.
Having finished school well, Robert Koch entered the Clausthal gymnasium in 1851, where after four years he became the best student in the class.
Higher education
In 1862, Koch graduated from high school and then entered the University of Göttingen, famous for its scientific traditions. There he studied physics, botany, and then medicine. Many of his university teachers, including anatomist Jacob Henle, physiologist Georg Meissner and clinician Karl Hesse, played a major role in shaping the future great scientist’s interest in scientific research. It was their participation in discussions about microbes and the nature of various diseases that sparked young Koch's interest in this problem.
Medical practice
In 1866, Robert completed his studies at the university and received a medical diploma. From that time on, he began working in various hospitals, and at the same time unsuccessfully tried to organize a private practice in five different cities Germany. Later, he wants to become a military doctor or travel around the world as a ship's doctor, until he eventually settles in the city of Rakwitz, where he began practicing medicine as an assistant in a hospital for the insane.
In 1867 he married Emma Adelphine Josephine Fratz.
In 1870, the Franco-Prussian War begins and Koch's work at the hospital is interrupted. Koch volunteers to become a field hospital doctor, despite being severely nearsighted. In his new service, he gains extensive practical experience, treating infectious diseases, in particular cholera and typhoid fever. At the same time, he studies algae and large microbes under a microscope and improves his skills in microphotography.
Research works
In 1871, Koch was demobilized. For his twenty-eighth birthday, his wife gave him a microscope, and since then Robert spent whole days with him. He loses all interest in private medical practice and begins to conduct research and experiments, for which he gets a large number of mice.
anthrax
In 1872, Koch was appointed district sanitary doctor in Wolstein (now Wolsztyn in Poland). He discovered that in the vicinity of Wolstein, an endemic disease was widespread among cattle and sheep - anthrax, which affects the lungs, causing carbuncles of the skin and changes in the lymph nodes. Knowing about Louis Pasteur's experiments on animals with anthrax, Koch uses a microscope to study the pathogen that presumably causes anthrax. After conducting a series of careful, methodical experiments, he establishes that the only reason disease is the bacterium Bacillus anthracis, and studies its biological development cycle. Establishes the epidemiological features of the disease, shows that one bacterium can form a multi-million colony. These studies were the first to prove the bacterial origin of the disease.
In 1876 and 1877, with the assistance of botanist Ferdinand Cohn and pathologist Julius Konheim, Koch's articles on anthrax were published at the University of Breslau (now the Polish city of Wroclaw). These works bring him wide fame. Koch also publishes a description of his laboratory methods, including staining of the bacterial culture and microphotographs of its structure. The results of Koch's work were presented to scientists from Conheim's laboratory, including Paul Ehrlich.
Koch's work brought him wide fame and in 1880, thanks to the efforts of Conheim, Koch became a government adviser to the Reich Health Office in Berlin.
In 1881, Koch published Methods for the Study of Pathogenic Organisms, in which he described a method for growing microbes on solid nutrient media. This method had important for isolating and studying pure bacterial cultures. Shortly thereafter, a heated debate ensued between Koch and Pasteur, until then a leader in microbiology. After Koch published highly critical reviews of Pasteur's anthrax research, the latter's leadership was shaken, and a feud erupted between the two prominent scientists, lasting several years. All this time they are leading heated debate and discussions on the pages of magazines and in public appearances.
Tuberculosis
Koch later made attempts to find the causative agent of tuberculosis, a widespread disease at that time and a leading cause of death. The proximity of the Charité clinic, filled with tuberculosis patients, makes his task easier - every day, early in the morning, he comes to the hospital, where he receives material for research: a small amount of sputum or a few drops of blood from patients with consumption.
However, despite the abundance of material, he still fails to detect the causative agent of the disease. Koch soon realizes that the only way to achieve his goal is with the help of dyes. Unfortunately, ordinary dyes turn out to be too weak, but after several months of unsuccessful work, he still manages to find the necessary substances.
Institute of Microbiology on Dorotheestrasse in Berlin - here Robert Koch discovered the causative agent of tuberculosis
Koch stains the crushed tuberculosis tissue of the 271st drug in methyl blue, and then in the caustic red-brown dye used in finishing leather, and discovers tiny, slightly curved, bright blue colored sticks - Koch sticks.
On March 24, 1882, when he announced that he had isolated the bacterium that causes tuberculosis, Koch achieved the greatest triumph of his entire life. At that time, this disease was one of the main causes of death. In his publications, Koch developed the principles of “obtaining evidence that a particular microorganism causes certain diseases.” These principles still form the basis of medical microbiology.
Cholera
Koch's study of tuberculosis was interrupted when, on instructions from the German government, he went to Egypt and India as part of a scientific expedition to try to determine the cause of cholera. While working in India, Koch announced that he had isolated the microbe that causes this disease - Vibrio cholerae.
Resuming work with tuberculosis
In 1885, Koch became a professor at the University of Berlin and director of the newly created Institute of Hygiene. At the same time, he continues his research into tuberculosis, focusing on finding ways to treat the disease.
In 1890, Koch announced that such a method had been found. He isolated a sterile liquid containing substances produced by the tuberculosis bacillus during its life - tuberculin, which caused an allergic reaction in patients with tuberculosis. However, in practice, tuberculin was not used to treat tuberculosis, since it did not have any special therapeutic properties; on the contrary, its administration was accompanied by toxic reactions and caused poisoning, which became the reason for its sharpest criticism. Protests against the use of tuberculin subsided after it was discovered that the tuberculin test could be used in the diagnosis of tuberculosis, which played a major role in the fight against tuberculosis in cows.
Awards
In 1905, Robert Koch was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his “research and discoveries concerning the treatment of tuberculosis.” In his Nobel lecture, the laureate said that if you look back at the path “that has been traveled in last years In the fight against such a widespread disease as tuberculosis, we cannot help but note that the first important steps have been taken here.”
Koch was awarded many awards, including the Prussian Order of Honor, awarded by the German government in 1906, and honorary doctorates from the universities of Heidelberg and Bologna. He was also a foreign member of the French Academy of Sciences, the Royal Scientific Society of London, the British Medical Association and many other scientific societies.
Monument to Robert Koch on his square in Berlin
Contribution to science
Robert Koch's discoveries made an invaluable contribution to the development of health care, as well as to the coordination of research and practical measures in the fight against such infectious diseases, like typhoid fever, malaria, rinderpest, sleeping sickness (trypanosomiasis) and human plague.
German doctor, bacteriologist, one of the founders of modern bacteriology and epidemiology.
In 1905 Robert Koch was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery and isolation of the causative agent of tuberculosis, which he awarded after 17 years of work in the laboratory.
In 1871, my wife gave it as a birthday present Robert Koch microscope, and from then on he spent whole days at the device, examining various tissues...
Later Robert Koch investigated the causative agent of anthrax; Vibrio cholerae; tuberculosis bacillus (at that time in Germany every seventh person died from tuberculosis). The bacteriologist was close to discovering the role of mosquitoes in transmitting malaria pathogens, but the Englishman Ronald Ross was ahead of him.
« Robert Koch was rightfully considered the head of European microbiologists. A simple rural doctor, he burned with an unquenchable passion for scientific research. Working in a primitive rural laboratory, Koch developed a number of new methods in the study of microbes. Three of them were truly revolutionary. First, Koch began to stain the bacteria. Before him, all researchers observed microbes as colorless, which, given the level of optics of the last century, led to numerous errors, and sometimes simply did not make it possible to see the microbe if its optical density differed little from the optical density of surrounding tissues. Koch used aniline dyes, which selectively stained only microbial bodies, and the researchers saw a completely new world microscopic creatures. Looking ahead, I want to say that from a simple methodological technique Subsequently, a whole section of microbiology developed concerning the tinctorial properties of microbes (that is, their ability to perceive one color or another depending on the metabolic characteristics of these microorganisms). Thus, by staining bacteria, Koch made it possible to conduct microbiological research at a new scientific level.
Secondly, Koch invented solid nutrient media. They say that this happened purely by accident. Allegedly, Koch forgot a cut boiled potato in the laboratory, and the next morning he discovered colonies of microorganisms on it. The scientist realized that chance had given him new method research. The fact is that before Koch’s work, microbes were grown in broth, that is, in a liquid medium where it is impossible to separate different microorganisms, and therefore it is very difficult to obtain a pure culture of the pathogen. To do this, it was necessary to resort to complex methodological tricks, which did not always produce an effect. When a mixture of microbes was applied to a solid nutrient medium, each microorganism became the founder of an entire colony of microbes exactly at the place where it fell on the nutrient medium. And in this colony there was a pure type of microbe. By experimenting with various nutritional products (gelatin, agar-agar - a substance isolated from algae, etc.), Koch developed a whole range of solid nutrient media and thereby gave microbiology opportunities that it had not had before.
The third innovation proposed by Koch was the immersion lens. Before Koch, the maximum microscope magnification at which microbes could be examined was 400-500 times. The use of an objective lens immersed in oil made it possible to use lenses with greater curvature, sharply increase the resolution of the microscope and obtain images with magnification of 900-1400 times».
Frolov V.A., Ahead of its time, M., “ Soviet Russia", 1980, p. 166-167.