Robert Koch

Who was Robert Koch?

Robert Koch was a German doctor considered to be the founder of modern bacteriology.

What were Koch's achievements?

Koch's work was important for 3 main reasons.

• ❖ He developed a method for staining and photographing microorganisms using dye.
• ❖ He discovered the specific germs that caused a number of diseases: anthrax in 1876, tuberculosis in 1882, and cholera in 1883.
• ❖ He developed the use of agar jelly for growing bacterial cultures on which he could experiment.
• ❖ He developed a steam steriliser which used heat to sterilise equipment and dressings.

How did Koch prove that cholera was spread through contaminated water?

In 1884, he found cholera in drinking water in Calcutta, India, which proved it was spread in water supplies. This confirmed John Snow's theory of why cholera had spread in London in 1854.

What was the significance of Koch's work?

Koch's work was a major breakthrough and he had 2 key impacts on medicine.

• ❖ Doctors began to study disease itself, rather than studying and treating symptoms.
• ❖ He made it easier for other scientists to identify and study bacteria, such as diphtheria and pneumonia, because of his staining technique.

Why were Koch and Pasteur rivals?

Koch and Pasteur were rivals for two key reasons:

• ❖ They fell out at an 1882 conference over a mistranslated term in Pasteur's lecture. Two of Koch's students then wrote a long paper criticising Pasteur's findings on anthrax.
• ❖ Their countries were at war between 1870-71, and their respective governments gave them funding for research and equipment.