Heinrich Hermann Robert Koch is a famous German doctor and microbiologist, Nobel Prize winner, founder of modern bacteriology and epidemiology. He was one of the most prominent scientists of the 20th century, not only in Germany, but throughout the world. Many advances in the fight against convection diseases, which before his research remained incurable, became a sharp push in medicine. He did not limit himself to studying one area of knowledge, did not stop at a breakthrough in one disease. All his life he discovered the secrets of the most dangerous diseases. Thanks to his achievements, an incredible number of human lives were saved, and this is the real recognition for a scientist.
Major Achievements
German Koch was a foreign correspondent for the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences and many other organizations. In the piggy bank of his achievements there are many works on infectious diseases and the fight against them. He traced and analyzed the direct relationship between illness andmicroorganisms. One of his main discoveries is the discovery of the causative agent of tuberculosis. He became the first scientist who managed to prove the ability of anthrax to form spores. Studies of several diseases brought the scientist worldwide fame. In 1905, Hermann Koch received the Nobel Prize for his achievements. In addition, he was one of the first persons in the field of he alth care in Germany.
Childhood
The future world famous scientist was born in Clausthal-Zellerfeld in 1843. The childhood of the boy - a young naturalist - passed relatively easily and carefree. His parents had nothing to do with science, his father worked in the management of mines, and his mother looked after the children, of whom there were thirteen people, Koch Robert was the third. He very early began to be interested in the world around him, his already considerable interest was spurred on by his grandfather and uncle, who also had an interest in nature. Already in childhood, he collected a collection of insects, mosses and lichens. In 1848 he entered the school. Unlike many children, he already knew how to read and write, he was very capable. Soon after that, he even managed to enter the gymnasium, where over time he became the best student.
University
After graduating from high school, the future scientist entered the prestigious Göttingen University, where he first studied natural sciences, and then began to study medicine. This is one of the universities in Germany, which was famous for the scientific achievements of students. In 1866 Koch Robert received his medical degree. A very important role in the development of interest in medicine and scientific research was played by universityKoch's teachers, from the very beginning of their studies, they tried to instill in a capable student a love not only for medicine, but also for science.
Career start
A year after graduating from university, Koch got married, a daughter was born from this marriage. In the early period of his career, Koch wanted to become a military or ship doctor, but he did not have such an opportunity. Koch moved with his family to Rackwitz, where he began working in a lunatic asylum. A sad start to a career, but it was only a starting point, in fact, the birth of a great scientist.
Smart and capable worker liked the local doctors. Very quickly, being a simple assistant, he gained confidence and became a doctor. This is how Robert Koch started his career. The biography shows that he worked like that for only three years, since the Franco-Prussian war began, and he had to go to the front as a field doctor.
War
Koch Robert went to the front voluntarily, even despite his rapidly deteriorating eyesight. During the war, he managed to gain serious experience in the treatment of infectious diseases. He cured many people of cholera and typhoid, which were very common during the war period. During his time at the front, Koch also studied large microbes and algae under a microscope, which was a significant advancement for him in microphotography and his scientific achievements.
Anthrax
After demobilization, Koch and his family moved to Wolstein (now Wolsztyn, Poland), where he worked as a simple orderly. After his wife gave him a microscope for his birthday, he abandoned his private practice and switched completely to scientific research. He spent all his time at the microscope, many hours day and night.
Soon he noticed that many animals in the area were sick with anthrax. This disease mainly affected cattle. Affected individuals suffered from problems with the lungs, lymph nodes and carbuncles. For his experiments, Koch bred a huge number of mice so that the anthrax bacillus would reveal its secrets to him. With the help of his wife's gift, he was able to isolate a single wand that turns into millions of its kind.
Wand Study
For a long time the scientist did not stop experiments, he proved that the stick is the only cause of anthrax. He also managed to prove that the distribution of the disease is interconnected with the life cycle of the bacterium itself. It was Koch's work that proved that anthrax was caused by a bacterium, before which very little was known about the origin of the disease. In 1877-1878, German scientists - Robert Koch, with the help of his colleagues - published several articles on this problem. In addition, he wrote an article about the methods he used in his laboratory research.
Immediately after the publication of his work, Koch became a prominent scientist, the Nobel Prize in Medicine was already on the horizon. A few years later, he published another work on the cultivation of microbes in solid media, this became fundamentally new.approach and an important breakthrough in the study of the world of bacteria.
Koch & Pasteur
German scientists often competed, but in Germany Koch had no equal, Pasteur was a brilliant French microbiologist, and Koch questioned his work. Koch even issued reviews openly critical of Pasteur's anthrax research. For several years in a row, scientists could not reach a consensus, they opposed both personally and in their work.
Tuberculosis
After his successful anthrax research, Koch decided to study tuberculosis. This was an extremely pressing issue, since at that time every seventh inhabitant of Germany died from this disease. Scientists, Nobel laureates, doctors only shrugged their shoulders, believing that tuberculosis is inherited and it is impossible to fight it. Treatment at that time consisted of outdoor walks and proper nutrition.
Tuberculosis research
Very quickly, Koch achieved incredible success in the study of tuberculosis. He took tissues from the dead for research, which he dyed and examined under a microscope for a long time to determine what actually caused the disease.
Soon he noticed the sticks, which he tested in a nutrient medium and on guinea pigs. The bacteria multiplied rapidly and killed the host. This was an incredible breakthrough in microbiology. In 1882, Koch published his work on this issue. The Nobel Prize was getting closer.
Cholera research
Koch failed to bring hisresearch to the end, on instructions from the government, he went to Egypt and India to fight cholera. After another period of lengthy research, the scientist was able to identify the microbe that causes the disease. The significant discoveries made by Robert Koch became a real breakthrough in medicine. He was appointed as the person in charge of controlling many other infectious diseases.
Professorship and new TB research
In 1885, Koch was appointed professor at the University of Berlin. In addition, he received the position of director of the Institute of Infectious Diseases. Returning to his homeland from India, he again began to study tuberculosis and achieved significant success. Five years later, in 1890, Koch reported that he had found a cure for the disease. He managed to discover a substance called tuberculin (produced by the tuberculosis bacillus), but the drug did not bring much success.
It caused an allergic reaction and proved to be harmful to patients. Although after some time it was noticed that tuberculin could be used to diagnose tuberculosis, this was an important discovery that was appreciated by physiology and medicine. The Nobel Prize was awarded to Koch in 1905. In his speech, the scientist said that these were only the first, but very important steps in the fight against tuberculosis.
Awards
The Nobel Prize was not the only achievement of the scientist. He was awarded the Order of Honor, which was issued by the German government. Moreover, like manyother Nobel laureates, Koch received an honorary doctorate, was a member of many scientific communities. A year before receiving the Nobel Prize, Koch left his position at the Institute of Infectious Diseases.
In 1893, Koch broke up with his wife, and then married a young actress.
In 1906 he led an expedition to Africa to fight sleeping sickness.
The famous scientist of Baden-Baden died in 1910 from a heart attack.
One of the volcano's craters was named after him in 1970.
Results
Koch was a real scientist, he loved his job and did it in spite of all the difficulties and dangers. After graduating in medicine, he moved on to the path of infectious disease research, and judging by his great success, he did it for good reason. If he had only been in private practice, he would never have been able to make so many discoveries and save so many lives. This is a great biography of a great man who laid his life on the altar of science. He succeeded in what no one else could, and only hard work and faith in knowledge helped him on this difficult path, the path of knowing the secrets of the human body.
