Robert Koch and his discoveries. Sanitary microbiology Robert Koch brief biography and his discoveries

Institute of Hygiene

Alma mater: Awards and prizes

Heinrich Hermann Robert Koch(German) Heinrich Hermann Robert Koch; December 11, Clausthal-Zellerfeld - May 27, Baden-Baden) - German microbiologist. He discovered the anthrax bacillus, Vibrio cholera and the tuberculosis bacillus. Winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, awarded for his research into tuberculosis.

Early life

Robert Koch was born on December 11, 1843 in Clausthal-Zellerfeld, the son of Hermann and Mathilde Henriette Koch. He was the third of thirteen children. From childhood, encouraged by his grandfather (mother's father) and uncle - amateur naturalists, he was interested in nature.

In 1848 he went to the local primary school. At this time he already knew how to read and write.

Having finished school well, Robert Koch entered the Clausthal gymnasium in 1851, where after four years he became the best student in the class.

Higher education

In 1862, Koch graduated from high school and then entered the University of Göttingen, famous for its scientific traditions. There he studied physics, botany, and then medicine. Many of his university teachers, including the anatomist Jacob Henle, the physiologist Georg Meissner and the clinician Karl Hesse, played a vital role in shaping the future great scientist’s interest in scientific research. It was their participation in discussions about microbes and the nature of various diseases that sparked young Koch's interest in this problem.

Koch's work brought him wide fame and in the year, thanks to the efforts of Conheim, Koch became a government adviser at the Reichs Public Health Office in Berlin.

On March 24, 1882, when he announced that he had isolated the bacterium that causes tuberculosis, Koch achieved the greatest triumph of his entire life. At that time, this disease was one of the main causes of death. In his publications, Koch developed the principles of “obtaining evidence that a particular microorganism causes certain diseases.” These principles still form the basis of medical microbiology.

Cholera

Koch's study of tuberculosis was interrupted when, on instructions from the German government, he went to Egypt and India as part of a scientific expedition to try to determine the cause of cholera. While working in India, Koch announced that he had isolated the microbe that causes the disease, Vibrio cholerae.

Resuming work with tuberculosis

In 1885, Koch became a professor at the University of Berlin and director of the newly created Institute of Hygiene. At the same time, he continues his research into tuberculosis, focusing on finding ways to treat the disease.

In 1890, Koch announced that such a method had been found. He isolated a sterile liquid containing substances produced by the tuberculosis bacillus during its life - tuberculin, which caused an allergic reaction in patients with tuberculosis. However, in practice, tuberculin was not used to treat tuberculosis, since it did not have any special therapeutic properties; on the contrary, its administration was accompanied by toxic reactions and caused poisoning, which became the reason for its sharpest criticism. Protests against the use of tuberculin subsided after it was discovered that the tuberculin test could be used in the diagnosis of tuberculosis, which played a major role in the fight against tuberculosis in cows.

Awards

In 1905, Robert Koch was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his “research and discoveries concerning the treatment of tuberculosis.” In his Nobel lecture, the laureate said that if we look back at the path “that has been traveled in recent years in the fight against such a widespread disease as tuberculosis, we cannot help but note that the first important steps have been taken here.”

Koch was awarded many awards, including the Prussian Order of Honor, awarded by the German government in 2008, and honorary doctorates from the universities of Heidelberg and Bologna. He was also a foreign member of the French Academy of Sciences, the Royal Scientific Society of London, the British Medical Association and many other scientific societies.

Contribution to science

Robert Koch's discoveries made an invaluable contribution to the development of health care, as well as to the coordination of research and practical measures in the fight against infectious diseases such as typhoid fever, malaria, rinderpest, sleeping sickness (trypanosomiasis) and human plague.

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“The first of all researchers, the first of all people who have ever lived, Koch proved that a certain kind of microbe causes a certain disease and that small miserable bacilli can easily become the killers of a large formidable animal,” wrote Paul de Cruy.

Robert Koch is a German microbiologist, one of the founders of modern bacteriology and epidemiology. For the first time he isolated a pure culture of the causative agent of anthrax and proved its ability to form spores. Suggested methods of disinfection. Formulated criteria for the etiological connection of an infectious disease with a microorganism (Koch's triad).

Robert Koch was born on December 11, 1843 in the tiny German town of Krausthal. As a child, he loved to break and then repair his toys. He spent long hours doing this activity. When he grew up and went to the gymnasium, then, as befits a child of his age, he began to dream of distant countries and great discoveries. He wanted to become a ship's doctor and sail around the globe. But after graduating from the medical faculty of the University of Göttingen in 1866, a modest position as a junior doctor awaited him in a mental hospital in Hamburg. Koch was not enthusiastic about treating people without reason. It seemed that in the future only boring routine medical practice awaited him. He moved from place to place and finally found himself in the role of a district doctor in Wolstein (East Prussia). Koch quickly won the respect of the villagers, and his medical practice began to bring him significant income. At the same time, thoughts about romantic travels and achievements did not leave Koch.

His bride, a sweet, simple girl, agreed to marry him on one condition: no jungle, no frigates: home, family, quiet, respected profession of a rural doctor. He resigned himself. His spirit was not humbled. On Koch’s 28th birthday, Emmy Fraatz, his wife, gave him a microscope to celebrate. She, of course, could not even think that this device would help her husband win world fame. The microscope, purchased as a toy, soon became the cause of marital discord. It took a lot of effort for Koch to tear himself away from his favorite instrument. As much as he was now keen on studying microbiology, he lost interest in medical practice. He didn't like to heal, he liked to explore.

The experiments of Louis Pasteur, who claimed that all diseases are caused by bacteria, excited the imagination of the young doctor. And Koch set up a primitive home laboratory and conducted his first microbiological studies. He knew nothing yet about the yeast broth invented by Pasteur, and his experiments were distinguished by the same primitive originality as the attempts of the first caveman to get fire. A fearless explorer of the invisible world of killers could easily become infected with a deadly disease. There was nothing to protect ourselves with: there were no tools or personal protective equipment.

He started with anthrax, which swept across Europe. The blood of a sheep killed by anthrax ended up on the stage of his microscope. By chance, he saw what others did not see: the bacteria that cause the disease, the mechanism of their reproduction and the insidious way of their self-preservation, allowing them to be reborn practically from oblivion. “Time and patience turn the mulberry leaf into silk,” says an Indian proverb. Koch did a gigantic job that required dedication, complete dedication. To pore over a microscope for days, weeks, months, to pave the way for the first time in the mysterious labyrinth of the microworld - only such a romantic as Koch could have decided to do this.

Thanks to the microscope and dyes, Koch discovered the amazing world of incredibly small living creatures - microbes. Using the method he developed for cultivating bacteria previously discovered in the blood of anthrax patients, Koch proved that they are the causative agents of anthrax and are capable of forming resistant spores. This doctor's discovery explained how the disease spread. When he dealt with anthrax, it never occurred to him to publish anything about it or report to anyone. In 1876, at the urging of his professor Kohn, Koch traveled from his bearish corner to Breslau to announce to the world that microbes were indeed the cause of disease. Few people believed it then. For three days, the assembled luminaries of science sat with bated breath and listened to the unknown doctor. It was a victory! Professor Conheim, one of the most talented pathologists in Europe, could not hold back any longer. He jumped out of the hall as if scalded and rushed to the laboratory to check if this unknown doctor was right.

Dr. Koch returned to Wolstein, where, from 1878 to 1880, he achieved new great successes by discovering and studying a special type of little rascals that cause fatal suppuration of wounds in people and animals. In his work on wound infections, Koch put forward three well-known requirements (Koch’s triad), on the basis of which it is possible to establish the connection of a disease with a specific microbe: 1) mandatory identification of the microbe in all cases of this disease; 2) the number and distribution of microbes must explain all the phenomena of the disease; 3) each individual infection must have its own pathogen identified in the form of a well-morphologically characterized microorganism. To fulfill these requirements (later largely revised and modified), Koch created a number of new methods for preparing drugs, staining, etc., which became firmly established in medical practice.

Next, Koch ardently set about searching for tuberculosis bacteria - a disease that claimed, and is still claiming, many human lives. Koch began with a microscopic examination of the internal organs of a thirty-six-year-old worker who died from transient consumption - pulmonary tuberculosis. But no microbes could be seen. That's when it dawned on him to use coloring of preparations. This happened in 1877, which became historic for medicine. After making a smear of the patient's lung tissue on a glass slide, Koch dried it and placed it in a dye solution. Examining a blue-colored specimen under a microscope, he clearly saw numerous thin rods between the lung tissue...

All this time, the Breslau professors did not forget about him, and in 1880, under their patronage, the government’s offer to come to Berlin to take up the post of extraordinary employee at the Ministry of Health fell on him out of the blue. Here he had at his disposal a magnificent laboratory with the richest equipment and two assistants, military doctors Löfler and Gafki. In 1882, showing hellish patience, Koch, using the method of staining and culturing microbes he invented, discovered the causative agent of tuberculosis. On March 24, 1882, at a meeting of the Society of Doctors in Berlin, Koch announced the discovery of the causative agent of tuberculosis (“Koch’s bacillus”). Professor Virchow, the supreme legislator of German medicine, who was present in the hall, was unable to overcome his emotions and left, slamming the door. Probably for the first time he had nothing to say.

A significant discovery was made, which made it possible to begin the search for means to combat tuberculosis. The news that Robert Koch had discovered the tuberculosis microbe spread throughout the world. Overnight, the small, serious, myopic German became a famous person, to whom microbiologists from all countries flocked to study. Koch founded the journal “Zeitschrift für Hygiene und Infectionskrankheiten” in 1886, in which in 1890 he published a method of treating tuberculosis with an extract from the culture of the tuberculosis bacillus - tuberculin. However, the drug turned out to be ineffective and is used only for the diagnosis of tuberculosis.

Robert Koch developed a method for isolating pure cultures of microbes by sowing the mixture on gelatin plates and, with his help, isolated in 1883 Vibrio cholera, shaped like a comma and therefore called “cholera comma.” Closer to the autumn of this year, cholera appeared in Egypt, and there was a fear that, as before, it would begin its journey around the world from there. Therefore, some governments, especially the French, decided to send research groups to Egypt to learn how to combat the cholera epidemic using new methods.

A similar decision was made in Germany. The government appointed Koch head of the commission, which arrived in Alexandria on August 24. A Greek hospital was chosen as the place of work. A year earlier, Koch observed a large number of bacteria in part of the intestine of a person who died of cholera, sent to him from India. He, however, did not attach much importance to this, since there are always many bacteria in the intestines.

Now, in Egypt, he remembered this discovery. “Perhaps,” he thought, “this microbe is the desired causative agent of cholera.” On September 17, Koch reported to Berlin that in the intestinal contents of twelve cholera patients and ten who died from cholera, a microbe common to this disease had been found and its culture had been grown. But he failed to cause cholera by injecting this crop into animals. By this time in Egypt the epidemic had already begun to subside and further research seemed impossible. Therefore, the commission went to India, to Calcutta, where cholera was still nesting. The sick and dead were again subjected to research, and again the same microbe was found as in Egypt - the same comma-shaped bacilli connected in pairs. Koch and his colleagues had no doubt that this particular microbe was the causative agent of cholera. Having further studied the process of cholera infection and the importance of drinking water supply to stop the disease, Koch returned to his homeland, where a triumphant welcome awaited him.

From 1885 to 1891, Koch was a professor at the University of Berlin. Since 1891, he headed the Institute of Infectious Diseases at the Charité Hospital, and since 1901, the Institute of Infectious Diseases in Berlin, later named after Koch.

In 1904, Koch resigned as director of the Institute of Infectious Diseases to focus solely on research. A year later, he was awarded the Nobel Prize at the same time as Adolf Bayer, an outstanding dye researcher, and five years later, on May 27, 1910, Robert Koch died. He passed away as quietly and modestly as he lived.

Koch's students worked hard. A terrible disease, diphtheria, claimed hundreds, thousands of children’s lives every day. He was treated for suffocation by tracheotomy (opening the windpipe). Some fearless doctors, risking death from the deadly poison, sacrificed themselves and sucked out the false membranes located in the newly opened windpipe. This is how the doctor-writer M.A. died. Bulgakov. And in 1884, Friedrich Löfler (1852-1915) discovered the causative agent of diphtheria and described the etiology of diphtheria, which made it possible for E. Bering and E. Roux to prepare an antitoxic serum. Georg Hafki (1850-1918), director of the Institute of Infectious Diseases in Berlin since 1904, described the etiology of typhoid fever, first isolated pure cultures of the typhoid bacillus and gave a detailed description of it in 1884. Particularly notable was Richard Pfeiffer, the author of a large number of works on various issues of microbiology and immunity. In 1890, he described the causative agent of influenza in smears, and in 1892 he obtained a pure culture of the microbe, which was considered the causative agent of influenza; in 1894, simultaneously with the Russian doctor V.I. Isaev discovered and studied the bacteriolysis of Vibrio cholerae; in 1896 he discovered endotoxins from the causative agent of typhoid fever. In explaining the mechanism of immunity, he tried to contrast the phenomena of bacteriolysis with phagocytosis. Pfeiffer contributed a lot of new things to the study of malaria, plague, cholera and other infectious diseases.

Heinrich Hermann Robert Koch is a famous German doctor and microbiologist, Nobel Prize laureate, founder of modern bacteriology and epidemiology. He was one of the most outstanding scientists of the twentieth century, not only in Germany, but throughout the world. Many advances in the fight against convective diseases, which before his research remained incurable, became a dramatic impetus in medicine. He did not limit himself to studying one area of knowledge, nor did he stop at a breakthrough in one disease. All his life he revealed the secrets of the most dangerous diseases. Thanks to his achievements, an incredible number of human lives were saved, and this is the real recognition for a scientist.

Main achievements

Herman Koch was a foreign correspondent for the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences and many other organizations. His achievements include many works on infectious diseases and the fight against them. He traced and analyzed the direct connection between disease and microorganisms. One of his main discoveries was the discovery of the causative agent of tuberculosis. He became the first scientist who managed to prove the ability of anthrax to form spores. Research into several diseases brought the scientist worldwide fame. In 1905, Hermann Koch received the Nobel Prize for his achievements. In addition, he was one of the first figures in the field of health care in Germany.

Childhood

The famous Baden-Baden scientist died in 1910 from a heart attack.

One of the volcano's craters was named in his honor in 1970.

Results

Koch was a real scientist, he loved his work and did it despite all the difficulties and dangers. After graduating in medicine, he switched to the path of infectious disease research, and judging by his enormous success, he did this for good reason. If he had only been in private practice, he would never have been able to make so many discoveries and save so many lives. This is a great biography of a great man who laid down his life on the altar of science. He succeeded in something that no one else could, and only hard work and faith in knowledge helped him on this difficult path, the path of learning the secrets of the human body.

Department of Social and Historical Sciences

ABSTRACT

On the history of medicine

Robert Koch and his contribution to the development of microbiology and epidemiology

Performed:

Student of group 16,

1st year, Faculty of Medicine

Puzrenkova Yulia Dmitrievna

Checked:

teacher

Batanina Olga Vladimirovna

Novosibirsk, 2013

Plan

Introduction

The beginning of the journey…………………………………………………………………………………...4

Robert Koch and his discoveries……………………………………………………….. 5

· Anthrax……………………………………………………………… 5

· Koch's stick……………..…………………………………………………………………… 7

· Koch's postulates……………………………………………………………...8

Conclusion

Bibliography

Application

Introduction

This topic, in my opinion, is very relevant. After all, for a long time a person lived surrounded by “invisible creatures”, used them, or rather the products of their vital activity (for example, when baking bread from sour dough), suffered from them when these creatures caused illnesses or spoiled food supplies, but did not suspect about their presence. And only thanks to the pioneers of microbiology who became interested in this topic, we have an idea of the root causes of the phenomena described above.

One of these people is Robert Koch (Heinrich Hermann Robert Koch) (1843-1910) - a German doctor and microbiologist, one of the founders of modern bacteriology and epidemiology.

The purpose of this abstract is to study the contribution of R. Koch to the development of microbiology. To achieve the goal, the following tasks had to be solved:

1. consider the development of Robert Koch’s personality in a historical context;

2. consider the scientific discoveries of R. Koch;

3. analyze the importance of the scientist’s research for medicine and biology.

This work consists of an introduction, a conclusion and two chapters divided into paragraphs. The materials for writing this abstract were the textbook “Medical Microbiology” (Pozdeev O.K.), the journal “Microbiology, Epidemiology and Immunology”, as well as a number of other sources given in the list of references used.

The beginning of the way

Robert Koch (Heinrich Hermann Robert Koch) (1843-1910) - German doctor and microbiologist, one of the founders of modern bacteriology and epidemiology, foreign corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1884).

Robert Koch (add., fig. 1) was born on December 11, 1843 in Clausthal-Zellerfeld. His parents were Hermann Koch, who worked in the mine administration, and Matilda Julia Henrietta Koch (Bivend). There were 13 children in the family, Robert was the third oldest child. Precocious, Robert began to be interested in nature early and collected a collection of mosses, lichens, insects and minerals. His grandfather, mother's father, and uncle were amateur naturalists and encouraged the boy's interest in studying the natural sciences.

When Robert entered the local primary school in 1848, he already knew how to read and write. He studied easily and in 1851 entered the Clausthal gymnasium. Four years later he was already the first student in his class, and in 1862 he graduated from high school.

Immediately after graduating from high school, Robert Koch entered the University of Göttingen, where he studied natural sciences, physics and botany for two semesters, and then began to study medicine. Many of his university teachers, including the anatomist Jacob Henle, the physiologist Georg Meissener, and the clinician Karl Hesse, played a vital role in shaping Koch's interest in scientific research. These scientists took part in discussions about microbes and the nature of various diseases, and the young Koch became interested in this problem.

Robert Koch and his discoveries

anthrax

Robert Koch began his work as a bacteriologist with the study of anthrax, epizootic 1 (widespread spread of an infectious disease among one or many species of animals in a certain territory, significantly exceeding the incidence rate usually recorded in this territory) which broke out in the Prussian town of Wolstein in the Bomst district, where he worked as a district doctor.

During this period, an anthrax epidemic occurred in the city of Bomst (add., Fig. 2). Koch found rods in sick sheep. He worked in a room he rented and where he also received patients. In dead mice, R. Koch found the same sticks and thin threads curling into balls as in sick sheep. A hypothesis arose about the transfer of anthrax by microorganisms he found.

To prove his hypothesis, he did cultures on a nutrient medium. By placing pieces of the spleen of infected mice in a hanging drop of the anterior chamber fluid of a bull's eye, he observed the growth of the pathogen, sporulation, and spore germination. The message “Etiology of Anthrax,” sent on May 27, 1876 to the famous bacteriologist and author of one of the classifications of bacteria Fernand Cohn, created a sensation, and despite the negative position of the pillars of German medicine of that time (Rudolf Vikhrov and Max Pettenkofer), it was recognized as a world discovery.

It is instructive to compare the approaches of Pasteur and Koch to solving scientific problems. Numerous critics and Koch himself accused Pasteur of being a “happy accident” of his discoveries. If Pasteur often replaced the lack of factual data with the highest intuition (for example, when studying fermentation), Robert meticulously sought to obtain all the necessary factors of the microbial origin of infectious diseases. Disagreeing with Pasteur in many respects, he understood that the discovery of the pathogen could be questioned, since according to the conditions of his experiments it was impossible to conclude that a truly pure culture of microbes had been obtained.

The method of diluting microbial cultures that existed at that time was labor-intensive and unreliable. Great prospects were opened by I. Schröter's observations about the ability of bacteria to form separate clusters - colonies on potatoes, paste or egg whites.

Initially, Koch settled on potato plates, but they had disadvantages: mobile bacteria moved quietly on a damp surface, the substrate used was opaque, which made it difficult to study colonies, and in addition, not all bacteria were able to grow on potatoes. Koch later began using gelatin, but many bacteria hydrolyzed the gelatin, liquefying the substrate, so gelatin had to be replaced with agar.

Koch then transferred bacteria from individual colonies into test tubes with gelatin frozen at an angle, obtaining pure culture colonies. The capabilities of the method of isolating pure cultures on solid nutrient media made it possible to clearly establish the etiological role of a particular pathogen and study its properties, which was impossible to do with broth cultures used until that time. Further, based on the experience of isolating pure cultures of pathogens, Koch developed the basic theoretical and practical principles of disinfection.

Koch stick

After Koch finds the causative agent of anthrax, he decides to start searching for the causative agent of tuberculosis (add., Fig. 3). The proximity of the Charite clinic, filled with tuberculosis patients, makes his task easier - every day, early in the morning, he comes to the hospital, where he receives material for research: a small amount of sputum or a few drops of blood from patients. However, despite the abundance of material, he still fails to detect the causative agent of the disease.

Koch soon realizes that the only way to achieve his goal is with the help of dyes. Unfortunately, ordinary dyes turn out to be too weak, but after several months of unsuccessful work, he still manages to find the necessary substances.

Koch grinds the tubercular tissue, stains it in methylene blue, then in Vesuvin (a caustic red-brown dye used for finishing leather), and looks. Clear blue tiny, slightly curved rods of an unusually beautiful hue become clearly visible on the preparation. Some of them float between the cellular substance, some sit inside the cells. Not believing himself, Koch again turns the micrometer screw, puts on and takes off his glasses again, presses his eye close to the eyepiece, gets up from his chair and looks while standing. The picture doesn't change.

This was already approximately the two hundred and seventy-first drug, Koch writes in his diary. And only now does it dawn on him what actually happened: he discovered the causative agent of tuberculosis, a universal scarecrow about which there was so much controversy.

Koch's postulates

Koch achieved his greatest triumph on March 24, 1882, when he announced that he had isolated the bacterium that causes tuberculosis. In Koch's publications on tuberculosis problems, principles were first outlined, which then became known as Koch's postulates:

1. The microorganism is detected in each case of a specific suspected disease.

3. After isolation from the patient’s body and isolation of a pure culture, the pathogenic microorganism should cause a similar disease in a susceptible animal.

Currently, this triad has largely lost its significance, since it is of little use in relation to viral infections, the causative agents of which are difficult to isolate from the patient’s body. In addition, Koch's postulates are not necessary for some diseases (for example, typhoid fever, gonorrhea, malaria, etc.).

In 1885, Koch became a professor at the University of Berlin and director of the newly created Institute of Hygiene. At the same time, he continued his research into tuberculosis, focusing on finding ways to treat the disease. In 1890, he announced that such a method had been found.

Koch isolated the so-called tuberculin (a sterile liquid containing substances produced by the tuberculosis bacillus during growth), which caused an allergic reaction in patients with tuberculosis. However, in fact, tuberculin was not used to treat tuberculosis, since it did not have a special therapeutic effect, and its administration was accompanied by toxic reactions, which became the reason for its sharpest criticism. Protests against the use of tuberculin subsided only when it was discovered that the tuberculin test could be used in the diagnosis of tuberculosis. This discovery, which played a major role in the fight against tuberculosis in cows, was the main reason Koch was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1905.

Conclusion

Thus, the German physician Robert Koch made a great contribution to the development of microbiology. Robert Koch's discoveries made an invaluable contribution to the development of healthcare. In the emerging era of bacteriology, R. Koch carried out a number of major studies, which allowed his contemporaries to call the scientist the “father of bacteriology”:

· a technique was developed for obtaining pure cultures of microorganisms in the form of individual colonies on solid nutrient media, which made it possible to isolate and study a number of microorganisms;

· methods for staining microorganisms have been developed;

· disinfection methods have been developed;

· infection of experimental animals was introduced into laboratory practice to isolate pure cultures of pathogenic microbes;

· discovered and studied the causative agent of tuberculosis in humans and cattle (Koch bacillus);

· the causative agent of anthrax was discovered;

· developed a method for cultivating microorganisms on solid nutrient media

Thus, it can be argued that R. Koch laid the foundations of modern methods of microbiological research, and also made an invaluable contribution to the development of microbiological science and medicine.

Bibliography:

1. Journal “Microbiology, Epidemiology and Immunology” No. 11/2, Moscow 1972, pp. 14-17

2. Internet source “Wikipedia” / http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koch,_Robert

3. Pozdeev O.K. “Medical microbiology”: textbook./Edited by V.I. Pokrovsky. – 4th edition, 2008, pp. 14-16

4. S.A. Blinkin “People of Great Courage” (Moscow 1963)

Application

Rice. 1 Robert Koch

Rice. 2 Anthrax

Rice. 3 Tuberculosis bacillus

Epizootic is a large-scale spread of an infectious disease among one or many species of animals in a certain territory, significantly exceeding the incidence rate usually recorded in this territory.

Koch's work brought him wide fame and in 1880, thanks to the efforts of Conheim, Koch became a government adviser to the Reich Health Office in Berlin.

In 1881, Koch published Methods for the Study of Pathogenic Organisms, in which he described a method for growing microbes on solid nutrient media. This method was important for isolating and studying pure bacterial cultures. Shortly thereafter, a heated debate ensued between Koch and Pasteur, until then a leader in microbiology. After Koch published highly critical reviews of Pasteur's anthrax research, the latter's leadership was shaken, and a feud erupted between the two prominent scientists, lasting several years. All this time they have been conducting heated debates and discussions on the pages of magazines and in public speeches.

Tuberculosis

Koch later made attempts to find the causative agent of tuberculosis, a widespread disease at that time and a leading cause of death. The proximity of the Charite clinic, filled with tuberculosis patients, makes his task easier - every day, early in the morning, he comes to the hospital, where he receives material for research: a small amount of sputum or a few drops of blood from patients with consumption.

However, despite the abundance of material, he still fails to detect the causative agent of the disease. Koch soon realizes that the only way to achieve his goal is with the help of dyes. Unfortunately, ordinary dyes turn out to be too weak, but after several months of unsuccessful work, he still manages to find the necessary substances.

Koch stains the crushed tuberculosis tissue of the 271st drug in methyl blue, and then in the caustic red-brown dye used in finishing leather, and discovers tiny, slightly curved, bright blue colored rods - Koch's rods.

Cholera

Resuming work with tuberculosis

Awards

Koch was awarded many awards, including the Prussian Order of Honor, awarded by the German government in 1906, and honorary doctorates from the universities of Heidelberg and Bologna. He was also a foreign member of the French Academy of Sciences, the Royal Scientific Society of London, the British Medical Association and many other scientific societies.

On May 27, 1910, Robert Koch died in Baden-Baden of a heart attack.