Louis Pasteur (1822-1895)

In Louis Pasteur's scientific career it is striking to note the exponential character of the research he introduced in all the fields he opened up. He offered fabulous opportunities to stereochemistry. He is acknowledged as one of the founders of microbiology. He established the possibility of anaerobic life. He pointed the way to epidemiology, public health, and the bacteriologic fight. He struggled against the idea of spontaneous generation of life. He irrevocably substantiated the microbial theory of infectious diseases. He demonstrated that bacterial virulence could be attenuated, he evidenced immunity and generalised the vaccination principle. He also was an incomparable experimenter.     

Louis Pasteur: the first experimental aerobiologist

Summary Pasteur is a well known scientific giant. However, it is not generally known that in less than a year, in 1860, he founded on precise scientific ground a new science: «micrography» (called Aerobiology since Meier's times (1930's). Not only did he definitely made the spontaneous generation theory disappear for ever, he also presented the true nature of the air spora: a limited cloud of solid dust dispersed by air movements and emptied by gravity. In order to prove the discontinuity of the supposely continuous spontaneous generation, he studied different localities at different seasons, and travelled at different heights. By doing so, he discovered most of Aerobiology's principles: 1) the absolute necessity of volumetric sampling; 2) the heterogeneity of the air spora; and 3) the aerobiological pathway (take-off, dispersal, deposition).Quoi! Je suis engagé depuis vingt années dans un sujet et ne dois pas avoir d'opinion, et le droit de verifier, de contrôler, de discuter et d'interroger appartiendra surtout à celui qui ne fait plus rien pour s'éclairer, à celui qui vient de lire, plus on moins attentivement mes travaux, les pieds sur les chenêts de la cheminée de son cabinet! Louis Pasteur, réponse à Poggiale