Robert Koch

<p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(128 128 128 1)>No other scientist has so aptly earned the title of father of his branch of science than Robert Koch. While Pasteur is regarded as the greatest applied becteriologist it was Koch who first perfected the pure techniques of cultivating and studying bacteria.</span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(128 128 128 1)>When Koch succeeded in isolating the dreaded anthrax bacillus he became the first to prove that a specific bacterium was the cause of a specific disease. He also developed four famous rules-still in use today-for relating one kind of bacteria to one kind of disease. Later he succeeded in growing pure cultures of bacteria an essential technique in modern bacteriology.</span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(128 128 128 1)>In 1882 Koch astounded the scientific world by first isolating the tubercle bacillus-the cause of tuberculosis. Later he discovered tuberculin a substance used in diagnosing tuberculosis today. A tireless worker Koch went on to save thousands of lives both human and animal through his investigation of Asiatic cholera sleeping sickness malaria Texas fever rinderpest and Rhodesian red water fever.</span></p>