A Brief History of Microbiology

dr. M. Ricky Ramadhian

 Life would not exist without
microorganisms

 Plants depend on microorganisms to help them

obtain the nitrogen they need for survival

 Animal (such as cows and sheep) need

microorganisms in order to digest the cellulose in their
plant-based diets

 Our ecosystems rely on microorganisms to enrich

soil, degrade wastes, and support life (to make
cheese, to develop vaccine and antibiotics)

 The human body is home to billios of

microorganisms, which help keep us healthy.
 some microorganisms cause disease, from
common cold to more serious disease such as
tuberculosis, AIDS.

 The threats of bioterrorism and new reemerging

infectious diseases are real.
History of Microbiology
1. The early years of Microbiology
2. The Golden age of Microbiology
3. The Modern age of Microbiology
The Early Years of Microbiology
Brought the first observations of microbial life
and initial efforts to organize them into logical
classifications
 The early years of Microbiology
What does life really look like ?

Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723)

Simple microscope
 Microorganisms/microbe
: all organsims that are to small to be seen
without microscope
 Reported the existence of protozoa in 1674 and bacteri in 1676
How can microbes be classified?
Carolus Linnaeus
Taxonomic system : a system for naming
plants and animals and grouping similar
organisms together

6 categories :
fungi, protozoa, algae, bacteria,
archaea, small animals
Golden Age of Microbiology
The search for answers to the following four
questions :
1. Is spontaneous generation of microbial life possible
2. What cause fermentation?
3. What cause disease
4. How can we prevent infection and disease
Fungi
 The cells are eukaryotic
(contains a nucleus composed of genetic materials
surrounded by a disinct membrane)
 Different from plants
 Obtain their food from other organisms
 Different from animals
 Having cell wall

 Microscopic fungi include : molds and yeast

Protozoa
 Single celled eukaryote that are similar to animals
in their nutritional needs and cellular structure

 Most protozoa are capable of locomotion

 scientist categorize protozoa according
to their locomotive structure
: pseudopodia, flagella, cilia
Algae
 unicellular or muticellular photosynthetic
organisms
 Like plants : make their own food from CO2 & water
using energy from sunlight
 Differ from plants : relative simplicity of their
reproductive structure

 categorized on the basis of their pigmentation,

storage products, composition of cell walls
 Large algae (seaweeds)
 Common in world’s ocean
 Chemicals from their gelatinous cell walls are used
as thickeners and emulsifier in many food/cosmetic
products

 Unicellular algae
 Common in freshwater ponds, streams, lakes
 The major food of small aquatic and marine animals
 Bacteria and Archae

 are prokaryotes : unicellular microbes that lack

nuclei

 Bacterial cell walls are composed of polyssacharide

(peptidoglycan)

 Archaea lack peptidoglycan

 The Golden Age of Microbiology

 Is spontaneous generation of microbial life possible?

 What causes fermentation?
 What causes disease?
 How can we prevent infection and disease?
 Is spontaneous generation of microbial life
possible?

 Francesco Redi (1626-1697)

 John T.Needham (1713-1781)
 Lazzaro Spallanzani (1729-1799)
 Louis Pasteur (1822-1895)
What causes fermentation?
 Pasteur’s Experiment
 Buchner’s Experiments
What causes disease?
 PASTEUR  germ theory of disease :
 microorganisms are also responsible for diseases
 Diseases (infectious diseases) caused by a specific
germ, called pathogen

 Investigations in etiology (the study of causation

of diseases)  ROBERT KOCH (1843-1910)
KOCH’S Experiments
 Anthrax
 Blood from infected animals : rod shaped bacterium
form chain  endospora always produced anthrax
when injected to mice

 Most bacteria are very small, different types

exhibit few or no visible differences
 Taking specimens  smearing onto a solid surface
(potato, gelatin medium)  each colony consisted
of the progeny of a single cell
Koch’s Postulate

1. The suspected causative agent must be found in

every case of the disease and be absent from
healthy host

2. The agent must be isolated and grown outside the

host

3. When the agent is introduced to a healthy,

susceptible host, the host must get the diseases

4. The same agent must be reisolated from the

diseased experimental host
HANS CHRISTIAN GRAM (1853-1938)
 Most microbes are colorless and difficult to see  use
dyes to stain and make them more visible under the
microscope

 Gram’s Stain
How can we prevent infection and disease?
 IGNAZ SEMMELWEIS (1818-1865)
 Handwashing
 JOSEPH LISTER (1827-1912)
 Antiseptic technique
 FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE (1820-1910)
 Nursing practice
 • BACTERIOLOGY
• PROTOZOOLOGY (PROTOZOA)
Leeuwenhook • MYCOLOGY (FUNGI)
• PARASITOLOGY (PROTOZOA DAN ANIMALS)
• PHYCOLOGY (ALGAE)

• TAXONOMY
Linnaeus

• INFECTION CONTROL
Semmelweis Snow • EPIDEMIOLOGY
 • INDUSTRIAL MICROBIOLOGY
Pasteur • PASTEURIZATION FOOD & BEVERAGE
TECHNOLOGY

• MICROBIAL METABOLISM
Buchner • GENETICS
• GENETIC ENGINEERING

Koch •KOCH’S POSTULATE  ETIOLOGY

Ivanowsky • VIROLOGY
 Beijerinck • Environmental microbiology
Winogradsky • Ecological microbiology

Gram • Microbial morphology

Lister • Antiseptic medical techniques

Nighingale • Hospital microbiology

Jenner • SEROLOGY
von Behring
Kitasato • IMMUNOLOGY
Ehrlich •Chemotherapy

Fleming
•Pharmaceutical
microbiology