Louis Pasteur was born on December 27, 1822
in a small village called
Dole in the eastern part of France. His parents were Jeanne and
Jean Joseph
Pasteur. His father Jean had been a sergeant in Napoleon's armies
and after
returning from his military life he opened a small tannery in
his house.
Louis Pasteur grew up in a small town called Arbois living the
life of a
typical French boy. At age 21 he was accepted to Ecole Normale
Superieure,
which was a very competitive school devoted to training college
professors.
He earned his doctorate at Ecole Normale in both physics and
chemistry. In
1854 he became a professor and the University of Lille. This
is also where he
started his research on the process fermentation.
Through his work on fermentation
he came to the conclusion that the
presence of organisms such as bacteria cause spoilage of wine,
beer, milk and
other products. Wine and beer companies lost a lot of money due
to spoiled
wine and beer. Pasteur helped to solve this economic problem
by showing that
heating the starting sugar solutions to a high temperature can
kill the
bacteria. He also used a process similar to this to help solve
the problems
of souring of milk. He devised this process in 1865 and published
his work in
1866. The process of killing bacteria in milk, beer and wine
is called
pasteurization, named after Louis Pasteur. The process of pasteurization
in
beer and wine is different from the process of pasteurization
in milk. Being
heated at around 140 degrees Fahrenheit for about 20 minutes
pasteurizes beer
and wine. Milk is pasteurized by heating at a temperature of
145° F for 30
minutes, rapidly cooling it, and then storing it at a temperature
below 50°
F. Louis Pasteur was recognized for his discoveries
in science at a fairly
young age. He resisted the temptation of fame and wealth because
he was
conscious of the social importance of science. During the time
of Pasteur's
life the findings of experimental science were being converted
into practical
applications on a large scale. Pasteur was a representative of
the
middle-class in France. He had strong Nationalism for his country,
which was
typical in the nineteenth century in France. He was very disappointed
in
France when Prussia defeated France in 1871. Pasteur said that
this defeat
was partly caused by the neglect of science during this time.
Pasteur's discovery of the process of pasteurization
was widely
recognized all over the world. It was immediately adopted in
the United
States, reaching all the way over to California, which was still
a developing
state. All of the contributions that Pasteur made to science
have stood the
test of time. His thought is still present, reflected in many
phases of
contemporary biochemical, biological and medical science. Scientists
today
have gone a step further with his work to reach beyond the conventional
theories of fermentation. Today pasteurization slows the spoilage
of milk and helps to prevent the spread of certain disease microbes that
milk can carry.
Louis Pasteur was dedicated to his work his whole life. This is probably
one of the reasons that he became so well know and some of the other scientists
of his time did not. He focused his work on solving practical
problems of his time, but he also looked beyond his time and
devised
scientific problems possibly to be investigated in the future.
The nineteenth
century is called the "Age of progress". There were many inventions
and
technological advances that took place during this time. Louis
Pasteur was
one of the people that contributed to all of the advances that
were made
during this time. He and his achievements symbolize science at
its finest.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Dubos, Rene. Pasteur and Modern Science, Science Tech Publishers;
Madison,
WI : 1960.
2. Yount, Lisa. Louis Pasteur, Lucent Books; San Diego, CA :
1994.
3. Holmes, S. J. Louis Pasteur, Dover Publications, Inc.; New
York : 1961.