A Brief History of Microbiology (16th Century - Till now)

Early Years of Biology

    Microbiology is a branch of biology & it's a study of Microorganisms. Microorganisms are smallest life forms in the world that includes Bacteria, Archaea, Fungi, Algae & Protozoans. Microbiology have a very long, rich history. At many different times scientists were discovered many interesting things. In 1670s Microscopes were developed. First time in the history, an organism was observed & Submitted at Roya Society in 1670s mid. The first Observation was done by a Dutch merchant anton van leeuwanhoek & he called that as animalcules.

In 1723, leewauhoek was died. After his death the microbiology field didn't develop fast. Because in that times the interest in microbiology is not high & the microscopes are to get. The Spontaneous generation theory were fired up in those years. Many Scientists were debated in spontaneous theory & Some are doing experiments to prove & disprove the theory. The noted scientists & Experiments are Francesco Redi & Rotten meat (1668), Lazzaro Spallanzani & Chicken broth (1765), Louis Pasteur & Swan necked flask (1861) and Tyndall & Sterility.

The Golden Era

    After that the golden era was started. The golden age of microbiology is 1857 to 1914. During this period, many revolutionary discoveries were happening. The fermentation & Pasteurization techniques were discovered by one of the greatest scientists in the history, that is Louis Pasteur & he is the father of modern microbiology. The germ theory disease is created by Robert Koch & it has Koch postulates. This Koch postulate describes the crucial properties of a germ that will cause disease. The First ever vaccine was discovered by Edward Jenner against the smallpox virus. After that, many vaccine discoveries have happened in the history.

The Boom

In 20th century, many novel technologies & discoveries were happening. After the World War 2, the first ever Antibiotic was discovered that is Penicillin. Penicillin was saved thousands of people from the infectious diseases such as bacterial diseases. After that sulfa drugs were discovered. Then after the discovery of Electron Microscopes in the 1940s, the level of microbiology was getting high. Several types of viruses & microbes were studied well by those electron microscopes. In the late 20th century, the Molecular techniques & Recombinant DNA technologies were discovered & many novel discoveries & inventions were done by many people till now. These new age techniques are done & doing many wonders.