Robert Koch

Born in Germany in 1843, Robert Koch shared with Louis Pasteur the early key discoveries in bacteriology and antibacterial immununity. Indeed, he in effect, devised the basic principles of modern microbiology and the rules for showing that an organism actually caused disease. Hw was the first to identify and isolate the causal agents of major diseases such as tuberculosis, cholera and anthrax. His studies of tuberculosis were especially important since he was the first to show that it was an infectious disease. He developed the tuberculin skin test, an immunolgical technique that is still one of the key diagnostic methods for this disease. Koch was awared the Noble Prize in 1905 for his studies on tuberculosis. He died in 1910.