For other people named Robert Koch, see Robert Koch (disambiguation).
Robert Koch
Born
Heinrich Hermann Robert Koch
(1843-12-11)11 December 1843
Clausthal, Kingdom of Hanover, German Confederation
Died
27 May 1910(1910-05-27) (aged 66)
Baden-Baden, Grand Duchy of Baden, German Empire
Nationality
German
Education
University of Göttingen
Known for
Koch's postulates Koch–Pasteur rivalry Bacterial culture method Germ theory of disease Medical microbiology Discovery of anthrax bacillus Discovery of tuberculosis bacillus and tuberculin Discovery of cholera bacillus
Awards
ForMemRS (1897)
Nobel Prize in Medicine (1905)
Pour le Mérite (1906)
Scientific career
Fields
Microbiology
Institutions
Imperial Health Office, Berlin University of Berlin
Doctoral advisor
Georg Meissner
Other academic advisors
Friedrich Gustav Jakob Henle Karl Ewald Hasse Rudolf Virchow
Heinrich Hermann Robert Koch (English: /kɒx/KOKH,[1][2]German:[ˈʁoːbɛʁtˈkɔx]ⓘ; 11 December 1843 – 27 May 1910) was a German physician and microbiologist. As the discoverer of the specific causative agents of deadly infectious diseases including tuberculosis, cholera and anthrax, he is regarded as one of the main founders of modern bacteriology. As such he is popularly nicknamed the father of microbiology (with Louis Pasteur[3]), and as the father of medical bacteriology.[4][5] His discovery of the anthrax bacterium (Bacillus anthracis) in 1876 is considered as the birth of modern bacteriology.[6] Koch used his discoveries to establish that germs "could cause a specific disease"[7] and directly provided proofs for the germ theory of diseases, therefore creating the scientific basis of public health,[8] saving millions of lives.[9] For his life's work Koch is seen as one of the founders of modern medicine.[10][11]
While working as a private physician, Koch developed many innovative techniques in microbiology. He was the first to use the oil immersion lens, condenser, and microphotography in microscopy. His invention of the bacterial culture method using agar and glass plates (later developed as the Petri dish by his assistant Julius Richard Petri) made him the first to grow bacteria in the laboratory. In appreciation of his work, he was appointed to government advisor at the Imperial Health Office in 1880, promoted to a senior executive position (Geheimer Regierungsrat) in 1882, Director of Hygienic Institute and Chair (Professor of hygiene) of the Faculty of Medicine at Berlin University in 1885, and the Royal Prussian Institute for Infectious Diseases (later renamed Robert Koch Institute after his death) in 1891.
The methods Koch used in bacteriology led to establishment of a medical concept known as Koch's postulates, four generalized medical principles to ascertain the relationship of pathogens with specific diseases. The concept is still in use in most situations and influences subsequent epidemiological principles such as the Bradford Hill criteria.[12] A major controversy followed when Koch discovered tuberculin as a medication for tuberculosis which was proven to be ineffective, but developed for diagnosis of tuberculosis after his death. For his research on tuberculosis, he received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1905.[13] The day he announced the discovery of the tuberculosis bacterium, 24 March 1882, has been observed by the World Health Organization as "World Tuberculosis Day" every year since 1982.
^"Koch". Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary.
^"Koch". The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
^Fleming, Alexander (1952). "Freelance of Science". British Medical Journal. 2 (4778): 269. doi:10.1136/bmj.2.4778.269. PMC 2020971.
^Tan, S. Y.; Berman, E. (2008). "Robert Koch (1843-1910): father of microbiology and Nobel laureate". Singapore Medical Journal. 49 (11): 854–855. PMID 19037548.
^Gradmann, Christoph (2006). "Robert Koch and the white death: from tuberculosis to tuberculin". Microbes and Infection. 8 (1): 294–301. doi:10.1016/j.micinf.2005.06.004. PMID 16126424.
^Lakhani, S. R. (1993). "Early clinical pathologists: Robert Koch (1843-1910)". Journal of Clinical Pathology. 46 (7): 596–598. doi:10.1136/jcp.46.7.596. PMC 501383. PMID 8157741.
^"A Theory of Germs". Science, Medicine, and Animals. National Academies Press (US). 2023-10-20.
^Lakhtakia, Ritu (2014). "The Legacy of Robert Koch: Surmise, search, substantiate". Sultan Qaboos University Medical Journal. 14 (1): e37–41. doi:10.12816/0003334. PMC 3916274. PMID 24516751.
^"Louis Pasteur vs Robert Koch: The History of Germ Theory". YouTube.
^Margo, Curtis E. (2011-04-11). "From Robert Koch to Bradford Hill: Chronic Infection and the Origins of Ocular Adnexal Cancers". Archives of Ophthalmology. 129 (4): 498–500. doi:10.1001/archophthalmol.2011.53. ISSN 0003-9950. PMID 21482875.
^Brock, Thomas. Robert Koch: A life in medicine and bacteriology. ASM Press: Washington DC, 1999. Print.
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and the causative agent of tuberculosis. First discovered in 1882 by RobertKoch, M. tuberculosis has an unusual, waxy coating on its cell surface primarily...
private medical practice and small laboratory in Berlin-Steglitz. In 1891, RobertKoch invited Ehrlich to join the staff at his Berlin Institute of Infectious...
century through the work of Louis Pasteur and in medical microbiology RobertKoch. The existence of microorganisms was hypothesized for many centuries...
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developed by German physician RobertKoch in his private laboratory in 1881, as a precursor method. Petri, as assistant to Koch, at Berlin University made...
Physiology or Medicine, including Emil von Behring, RobertKoch and Paul Ehrlich, worked there. Koch, (1843–1910), was a representative leader. He became...
spoilage, debunking the theory of spontaneous generation. In the 1880s, RobertKoch discovered that microorganisms caused the diseases tuberculosis, cholera...
"father of bacteriology" and the "father of microbiology" (together with RobertKoch; the latter epithet also attributed to Antonie van Leeuwenhoek). Pasteur...
via RobertKoch-Institut. "Heinrich Hermann RobertKoch." World of Scientific Discovery. Gale, 2006. Biography in Context. Web. 14 April 2013. "Robert Koch...
been described only through historical accounts. The Prussian scientist RobertKoch (1843–1910) was the first to identify Bacillus anthracis as the bacterium...
RobertKoch who rediscovered it in 1884. Koch is credited for introducing the science of microorganisms including bacteria to the medical field. Koch...
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including Albert Einstein, Hermann von Helmholtz, Emil du Bois-Reymond, RobertKoch, Theodor Mommsen, Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Otto von Bismarck, W....
UCSF Medal, University of California, San Francisco 2013: RobertKoch Gold Medal, RobertKoch Foundation, Germany 2013: Prince Mahidol Award, Prince Mahidol...
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is adopted. The bacterium as the cause of cholera was discovered by RobertKoch in 1884. Sambhu Nath De isolated the cholera toxin and demonstrated the...
years. Use is safe in pregnancy. Tuberculin was discovered in 1890 by RobertKoch. Koch, best known for his work on the etiology of tuberculosis (TB), laid...
Health (since 2020) Centre for International Health Protection (ZIG), RobertKoch Institute (RKI), member of the scientific advisory board (since 2020)...
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