Robert Koch

What do we know about Koch?

• Dates: 1843 – 1910
• Place of Birth: Germany
• Background & Education: University of Göttingen
• Career: Government adviser to Imperial Department of Health, Professor at Berlin University, Director of Prussian Institute for Infectious Diseases. Awarded Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1905
• Famous Publications: Various – research on anthrax, tuberculosis and cholera

Contribution to Medicine

• Built upon the work of Pasteur by linking specific diseases to the particular microbe that caused them. The technique was called ‘microbe hunting’.
• Identified anthrax bacteria (1876) septicaemia bacteria (1878), tuberculosis bacteria (1882) and cholera bacteria (1883).
• Used revolutionary scientific methods:
  • Used agar jelly to create solid cultures, allowing him to breed lots of bacteria.
  • Used dye to stain the bacteria so they were more visible under the microscope.
  • Used photography (a new invention at that time) to record his findings.