Character Catalog

By demonstrating that fermentations are caused by living microorganisms rather than purely spontaneous chemical processes, Pasteur laid the foundations of microbiology and modern medicine.

Pasteur definitively proved that a sterile liquid does not spontaneously spoil if the air entering it is filtered, putting an end to a scientific controversy several centuries old.

A moderate heating technique used to destroy pathogenic microorganisms in wine, beer, and milk. This method revolutionized food preservation and is still universally used today.

By discovering that an aged and weakened culture of the cholera bacillus immunized chickens against the disease, Pasteur generalized Jenner's principle of vaccination and opened the way for modern vaccinology.

Developed and publicly tested at Pouilly-le-Fort, this vaccine saved millions of livestock animals and spectacularly demonstrated the validity of the principle of vaccination using attenuated agents.

The first successful application of a rabies vaccine on a human, administered to Joseph Meister. This landmark discovery, celebrated worldwide, brought Pasteur international renown and led to the founding of the Institut Pasteur.

I have sought to demonstrate, through experiments I believe to be irrefutable, that spontaneous generation does not exist; that under present circumstances, inert matter never gives rise to life.

We have found that cultures of this microbe, after aging in air, lose their virulence while retaining their culture properties, and that animals inoculated with these attenuated cultures subsequently resist inoculation with virulent cultures.

Joseph Meister, aged 9, had been bitten on the hand, legs, and thighs in 14 places, so deeply that walking was difficult for him. The most serious bites were 60 hours old. The death of this child seemed inevitable; I resolved, not without acute and painful anxiety, to try on Joseph Meister the method that had consistently succeeded in dogs.

Heating wine to a temperature between 55 and 60 degrees Celsius destroys the ferments that cause its spoilage, without appreciably altering its taste qualities. This method constitutes a practical and effective means of preservation.

Birthplace of Louis Pasteur, born on December 27, 1822. His childhood home is now a museum retracing his early years and beginnings.

Pasteur completed his higher studies there, then taught and set up his first major laboratory. It is here that he conducted his decisive research on spontaneous generation.

Founded in 1888 through an international public subscription, this institute is the crowning achievement of Pasteur's career. He spent his final years there and is buried in a magnificent crypt.

Village where Pasteur carried out his famous public vaccination experiment against anthrax on sheep in 1881, before the eyes of the press and the international scientific community.

Town where Pasteur grew up and to which he returned every summer to recharge. He owned a house there that is now a museum, and it is where he suffered his first stroke in 1868.