Researched
Germ theory
Microbes, not bad air or imbalance, cause infectious diseases.
Open in the interactive tree →Louis Pasteur's swan-neck flask experiments (1861) ended the idea of spontaneous generation and linked microbes to fermentation and decay. Robert Koch proved in 1876 that a bacterium causes anthrax, identified the tuberculosis bacillus in 1882 and set criteria (Koch's postulates) for blaming a germ. John Snow's 1854 cholera map had already shown that water can carry disease. Germ theory led to sanitation, sterile surgery, vaccines and antibiotics.
Prerequisites
- Fermented food and drink~7000 BCPasteur's germ research began with the fermentation of wine and beer
- Microscope1665
- Redi refutes maggots from meat1668Redi's 1668 test began the experimental case that life comes only from life
- Cell theory1838
Unlocks
- Pasteurization1864
- Hygiene and antisepsis1867
- Antibodies and serum therapy1890
- Viruses discovered1892-1898
- Enzymes: life without cells1897
- Chlorinated drinking water1908
- Salvarsan: the magic bullet1909
- Antibiotics1928
- Oral rehydration therapy1968-1971
- Human microbiome2007-2012