Western Civilization II / Unit 12 WC2 1105 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Pasteur: Germs, Pasteurization, Vaccines
Captions available
The idea
Louis Pasteur, from fermentation experiments in eighteen fifty-four, showed that microorganisms cause disease and putrefaction and that life does not generate spontaneously. Heating killed them: pasteurization. Vaccines followed, for anthrax first. With Koch he founded germ theory, and hygiene cut deaths before any antibiotic existed.
In practice
Infectious deaths down sixty percent, the anchor says.
Where people slip
"Newtonian in scope" is the anchor's verdict.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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