Some important events in the development of microbiology.
| Year |
Scientists |
Discovery(s) |
| 1590-1608 |
Jansen |
Develops first useful microscope. |
| 1676 |
Antony van Leeuwenhoek |
1st to observe and accurately record and report microorganisms. |
| 1688 |
Francesco Redi |
Publishes work on spontaneous generation of maggots. |
| 1786 |
Miller |
Proposes 1st classification of bacteria. |
| 1798 |
Edward Jenner |
Introduces cowpox vaccination for small pox. |
| 1838-1839 |
Schwann and Schleiden |
Proposed the cell theory. |
| 1809-1885 |
Jacob Henle |
Establishes principles for germ theory of disease |
| 1822-1895 |
Louis Pasteur |
Establishes germ theory of disease and germ theory of fermentation, developed immunization techniques. |
| 1827-1912 |
Joseph Lister |
Developed aseptic techniques for isolation of bacteria in pure culture. |
| 1850-1934 |
Fanny Hesse |
Suggested use of agar as a solidifying material for microbial media. |
| 1843-1910 |
Robert Koch |
Develops pure culture technique and Koch’s postulates. Discovered causative agents of anthrax and tuberculosis and rabies vaccine. |
| 1853-1933 |
Hans Christian Gram |
Gram staining method. |
| 1863 |
Mendel |
Discovers laws of genetics. |
| 1887-1890 |
Sergei Winogradsky |
Nitrogen fixing bacteria in soil. |
| 1887 |
Richard Petri |
Developed petri plate. |
| 1889-1901 |
Martinus Beijrinck |
Concept of a virus, enrichment culture method. |
| 1902 |
Landsteiner |
Discovers blood groups. |
| 1908 |
Paul Ehrlich |
Chemotherapeutic agents. |
| 1923 |
|
1st edition of Bergey’s Manual of Systematic Bacteriology. |
| 1928 |
Griffith |
Discovers bacterial transformation. |
| 1929 |
Alexander Fleming |
Discovery of penicillin. |
| 1944 |
Selman Waksman |
Discovery of streptomycin. |
| 1946 |
Lederberg and Tatum |
Describe bacterial conjugation. |
| 1952 |
Zinder and Lederberg |
Discover generalized transduction. |
| 1953 |
Watson and Crick |
Proposed the double helix structure of DNA. |
| 1959 |
Rodney Porter |
Immunoglobulin structure. |
| 1959 |
F. Macfarlane Burnet |
Clonal selection theory. |
| 1961 |
Jacob and Monod |
Proposed the operon model of gene regulation. |
| 1970 |
Arber and Smith |
Discovery of restriction endonuclease. |
| 1972 |
Cohen and Boyer |
Develop recombinant DNA technology. |
| 1975 |
Georges Kohler and Cesar Milstein |
Monoclonal Antibodies. |
| 1977 |
Gilbert and sanger |
Develop technique for DNA sequencing. |
| 1983-1984 |
Kary Mullis |
Developthe Polymerase Chain Reaction. |
| 1982 |
|
Genbank database established. |
| 1983 |
Luc Montagnier |
Discovery of HIV, the cause of AIDS. |
| 1996 |
|
Dolly- the sheep was cloned. |
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