Contribution of Microbiologist: Ignaz Semmelweis, Hans Christian Gram, Charles Lavaran, Fanny Hesse, Marjory Stephenson, Kiyoshi Shiga, Emil von Behring.
Ignaz Semmelweis was born on 1 July 1818 in Buda, Kingdom of Hungary, which is now part of Budapest, Hungary.
The full name of Ignaz Semmelweis is Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis.
He was a Hungarian physician and scientist.
He died at the age of 47 on August 13, 1865.
Contribution
In medical history, he first demonstrated that puerperal fever (also known as “childbed fever”) was contagious.
He also demonstrated that washing hands with a chlorine solution can reduce the mortality of women giving birth in the hospital setting.
2. Hans Christian Gram
The full name of Hans Christian Gram was Hans Christian Joachim Gram.
He was born on 13 September 1853 Copenhagen, Denmark
He was a Danish bacteriologist.
He died at the age of 85 on 14 November 1938
Contribution
Hans Christian Gram invented the Gram staining technique, which is still an important staining technique in microbiology to distinguish bacterial cells. This staining technique helps to differentiate between gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria.
In this gram staining technique, the bacterial cell is first treated with crystal violet dye, then with an iodine solution and safranine. After that, the cells are observed under a microscope.
Hans Christian Gram was the first to recognize that macrocytes were characteristic of pernicious anemia.
3. Charles Lavaran
The full name of Charles Lavaran is Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran.
He was born on 18 June 1845 in Paris, France.
He was a French physician.
For his discovery of for his discoveries of parasitic protozoans he received Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1907.
He died at the age of 76 on 18 May 1922.
Contribution
Charles Lavaran discovered that malaria is caused by protozoan, by observing the blood sample of a malaria patient who had just died of malaria.
He named this protozoan as Oscillaria malariae, later it renamed as renamed Plasmodium.
4. Fanny Hesse
Her original name is Angelina Fanny Elishemius.
She was born in 1850 in New York City.
She died on December 1, 1934.
Contribution
Fanny Hesse and her husband Walther Hesse developed agar medium to culture microorganisms.
5. Marjory Stephenson
Marjory Stephenson was born on 24 January 1885 in Burwell, Cambridgeshire, England.
She was a British biochemist.
She died at the age of 63 on 12 December 1948.
Contribution
In 1930, she wrote Bacterial Metabolism, which was the standard textbook for generations of microbiologists.
In 1945, she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.
6. Kiyoshi Shiga
Kiyoshi Shiga was born on February 7, 1871, in Sendai, Miyagi, Japan
He was a Japanese physician and bacteriologist.
He died at the age of 85 on January 25, 1957.
Contribution
In 1897, he discovered the bacteria Shigella dysenteriae which was the causative agent of dysentery disease.
He was the president of Keijō Imperial University in Keijo (Seoul).
He also was a senior medical advisor to the Japanese Governor-General of Korea.
7. Emil von Behring
The original name of Emil von Behring was Emil Adolf von Behring.
He was born on 15 March 1854 in Hansdorf, Kreis Rosenberg Prussia.
He was a German physiologist.
He died at the age of 63 on 31 March 1917.
Contribution
Emil von Behring discovered diphtheria antitoxin.
He received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery.
He is also known as a “saviour of children,” because this disease is responsible for child death.
Contribution of Microbiologist: Ignaz Semmelweis, Hans Christian Gram, Charles Lavaran, Fanny Hesse, Marjory Stephenson, Kiyoshi Shiga, Emil von Behring.
