Pasteur, Louis (1822-1895), French chemist and biologist, who founded the science of microbiology, proved the germ theory of disease, invented the process of pasteurization, and developed vaccines for several diseases, including rabies.

... Pasteur, Louis (1822-1895), French chemist and biologist, who founded the science of microbiology, proved the germ theory of disease, invented the process of pasteurization, and developed vaccines for several diseases, including rabies. Pasteur was born in Dôle on December 7, 1822, the son of a tanner, and grew up in the small town of Arbois. In 1847 he earned a doctorate at the École Normale in Paris, with a focus on both physics and chemistry. Becoming an assistant to one of his teachers, he began research that led to a significant discovery. He found that a beam of polarized light (see Optics) was rotated to either the right or the left as it passed through a pure solution of naturally produced organic nutrients, whereas when such a beam was passed through a solution of artificially synthesized organic nutrients, no rotation took place. If, however, bacteria or other micro-organisms were

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