ThePerson: Robert Koch, biography, life story, reasons for fame. Robert Koch's biography and discoveries Robert Koch's significance of discoveries

Robert Koch is an outstanding researcher, microbial storm, author of fundamental works, whose contribution to science and methods of work became important for many inquisitive minds that followed him. Paul de Kruy wrote:

“The first of all researchers, the first of all people who 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.”

Childhood and youth

The biography of the researcher confirms that he was passionate about wildlife and science from early childhood. Koch was born on December 11, 1843 in the resort town of Clausthal-Zellerfeld, in Lower Saxony. The house where the future luminary of microbiology was born is now a museum and a prominent landmark of the university campus. Father Herman worked as a mining engineer, was in the management of mines. Mining has been the main industry driving the development of the region.

Julian's mother Matilda Henrietta was the daughter of the chief inspector of the Kingdom of Hanover, Heinrich Andreas Bivende, and was completely absorbed in caring for offspring: 13 children were born in the Koch family, Robert became the third.

Grandfather Heinrich on the maternal side - an educated man and a successful official, had an irresistible craving for nature, was considered an amateur naturalist. Noticing the inquisitive mind of his grandson, he instilled a love for his hobby and partly predetermined the future path of the boy. Young Koch loved to collect insects, collected mosses, took apart and collected toys with interest.

Education was easy for Robert - he figured out writing and reading even before he entered elementary school, before he was 5 years old. Later he studied at the Clausthal Gymnasium, where he deservedly received the title of the best student in the class. In 1862, 19-year-old Robert successfully passed the exams at the University of Göttingen. Georg-August is a classic German university with a serious academic tradition, associated with the activities of over 40 Nobel laureates.

Subsequently, Koch noted that the discussions about microbes and the scientific works of the teachers of Göttingen seriously influenced his passion for science. The teaching staff included the pathologist Friedrich Henle, who discovered the loop in the nephron of the kidney, later named after him, the physiologist Georg Meissner, who was immortalized in the name of one of the plexuses of the enteric nervous system of the hollow organs of the gastrointestinal tract.

Within 2 months, Koch studied natural disciplines, including biology, and then took up medicine. After 4 years he receives a medical degree. For several years, the young physician has been vainly moving around Germany in search of a suitable city for private practice. Finally, in 1869, he settled in the town of Rackwitz and got a job as an assistant in a hospital for the mentally ill.

Medicine and scientific activity

In the psychiatric clinic in Rackwitz, Koch did not work long. In 1870, the Franco-Prussian War broke out. Robert became a field hospital doctor. In the most difficult conditions, he gains invaluable experience, including in the treatment of infectious diseases, outbreaks of which occurred constantly. In the fire of war finds time for research, studying microbes and algae. A year later, he is demobilized and devotes all his free time to the study of microorganisms, having completely lost interest in medical practice.

In 1872 he was appointed county doctor in Wolstein (now Wolsztyn in Poland). To Koch's delight, an anthrax epidemic was raging in the region at the time, mowing down the livestock of local farmers. Aware of the experiments of Louis Pasteur, he also decided to investigate the dangerous disease.

Countless experiments and hours later under a microscope, he was the first to identify in its pure form the bacterium Bacillus anthracis - the causative agent of the disease, and also studied its life cycle in detail. In the crops, the scientist found sticks, threads and spores that felt great in moist soil. In this way, Koch scientifically explained the appearance of "mounds of death" - burial places dangerous for humans and animals infected with anthrax.

4 years later, at the University of Breslau (now the Polish city of Wroclaw), the discoveries were made public. An important role in the publication was played by the bacteriologist botanist Ferdinand Kohn and the pathophysiologist Julius Konheim, in whose laboratory Koch first spoke about the invented new research methods in microbiology. It is curious that Paul Ehrlich, the future "father" of chemotherapy, was among the listeners.

In 1880, with the support of Konheim, he received the position of government adviser at the Imperial Health Department in Berlin. A year later, he publishes the revolutionary work "Methods for the Study of Pathogenic Organisms", where he proves that it is convenient to separate microbes and identify pure cultures on solid nutrient media, and not in nutrient broth, as was the case before.

The fundamental discovery happened by chance. Koch left a cut potato in the laboratory, and the next morning he found colonies on the cut that lived in isolation and did not mix. Later, the scientist used gelatin, agar-agar and a number of other nutrient solid media, which opened up a new level of research for microbiologists.

The contribution to science was not limited to this. Koch owns a method for studying bacteria by staining. Before him, microbes were considered colorless, and if their density coincided with the density of the environment, then organisms became completely invisible. Robert used aniline dyes, which selectively imparted color only to microbes. This became the starting point in the formation of a new field of microbiology about the tinctorial properties of different microbes - their ability to "color".

Finally, an immersion lens. By immersing the objective in oil and using more curved lenses, the scientist brought the magnifying power of the microscope up to 1400 times at a time when 500 times magnification was the limit. Evidence of the relationship between the microorganism and the disease it causes, the researcher combined into a series of postulates, called the Koch Triad.

All of them, with some amendments, are still relevant today:

the microbe is always detected in a patient with a certain infection and is absent in others;
the microbe must be isolated in its pure form and viewed as a whole microorganism;
individuals infected with a microbe in their pure form show symptoms similar to those of patients, they are determined by the number and distribution of pathogens

Koch's contemporaries are the greatest minds of mankind, for example, Louis Pasteur, with whom, however, the scientist was at enmity. For several years, the geniuses of microbiology have incinerated each other in articles and critical scientific essays. Robert is 20 years younger than Louis, but put forward theories that undermine the authority of the latter.

In the 1880s, tuberculosis killed every 7th inhabitant of Germany. The massive nature of the disease and poor knowledge of the etiology led to huge mortality rates. At that time, fresh air and a healthy diet were opposed to illness. Koch could not ignore such a worthy "rival".

With characteristic obsession, after conducting a series of experiments and studies on the tissues of the dead, staining and making crops, the scientist was able to discern bright blue-colored sticks in the nutrient medium - Koch's sticks. Having tested his hypothesis on guinea pigs, Koch proved that it was they who cause the disease, which he announced on March 24, 1882 at a conference in Berlin.

Despite many other discoveries made by him about the course of diseases, it was tuberculosis that remained a stumbling block for Koch. Until the end of his life he dealt with the problem of the disease. He invented sterile tuberculin, a liquid that could help in the treatment. Alas, the drug had no therapeutic effect, but became an excellent diagnostic tool. For "research and discoveries concerning the treatment of tuberculosis" in 1905, he will be awarded the Nobel Prize.

In 1882, he also published information about the bacillus that causes acute epidemic conjunctivitis, known as the Koch-Wicks bacillus - another item on the scientist's list of merits. A year later, he was sent as part of a research expedition to Egypt and India, where cholera was rampant. The scientist was looking for the causative agent of a dangerous disease and found it.

Having discovered in numerous samples a similar microorganism resembling a comma in shape, Koch introduced the world to vibrio cholerae.

“The idea that microorganisms must be the cause of infectious diseases has long been expressed by a few outstanding minds,” wrote Robert Koch. - but it was difficult at first to prove it in an irrefutable way.

In 1889, together with Shibasaburo Kitasato, he identified the causative agent of tetanus in its pure form. At 41, the microbiologist becomes a professor at the University of Berlin and director of the newly formed Institute of Hygiene. In 1891 he headed the Institute of Infectious Diseases, later named after him.

Since 1896, the scientist went on scientific expeditions: to India, Africa, Java, Italy, New Guinea. In 1904, he resigned from the post of director of the institute in order to immerse himself in the study of information received on trips. Plague, relapsing fever, sleeping sickness, malaria - the most dangerous microbes "lay down" under the lens of his microscope until 1907. In 1909, Koch read the last report on tuberculosis. In 1910, the scientist died.

Personal life

In wide circles he had a reputation as a closed and suspicious person, an introvert by nature, but relatives and friends who were part of the circle of trust knew him differently in his personal life: a kind, sensitive, chess-loving genius.

His first wife was Emma Adelphine Josephine Fratz, whom he married in 1867. The union produced a daughter, Gertrude. It was Emma who gave Koch a microscope for his 28th birthday.

In 1893, Robert divorced and remarried. The second wife is a young actress Hedwig Freiburg. The couple had no children.

Death

The scientist died in Baden-Baden at the age of 66 from a heart attack.

Even during the life of the researcher, in 1907, the Robert Koch Foundation appeared in Berlin. The prize and the gold medal awarded to him are prestigious international awards in the field of biomedical sciences. In addition to honorary regalia, the laureates are also awarded impressive cash grants. Several Koch Prize winners have subsequently received the Nobel Prize.

Heinrich Hermann Robert Koch is a famous German doctor and microbiologist, Nobel Prize winner, founder of modern bacteriology and epidemiology. He was one of the most prominent scientists of the 20th century, not only in Germany, but throughout the world. Many advances in the fight against convection diseases, which before his research remained incurable, became a sharp push in medicine. He did not limit himself to studying one area of knowledge, did not stop at a breakthrough in one disease. All his life he discovered 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 the scientist.

Main achievements

Herman Koch was a foreign correspondent for the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences and many other organizations. In the piggy bank of his achievements there are many works on infectious diseases and the fight against them. He traced and analyzed the direct relationship between disease and microorganisms. One of his main discoveries is the discovery of the causative agent of tuberculosis. He became the first scientist who managed to prove the ability of anthrax to form spores. Studies of 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 persons in the field of healthcare in Germany.

Childhood

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

One of the volcano's craters was named after him in 1970.

Results

Koch was a real scientist, he loved his job and did it in spite of all the difficulties and dangers. After graduating in medicine, he moved on to the path of infectious disease research, and judging by his great success, he did it 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 his life on the altar of science. He succeeded in what no one else could, and only hard work and faith in knowledge helped him on this difficult path, the path of knowing the secrets of the human body.

Tuberculosis was discovered by Heinrich Koch. It is known that he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1905 for his research on tuberculosis. The future scientist knew how to read and write even before the onset of 5 years. In addition to him, 12 children grew up in the family.

At the gymnasium, he studied well and loved chess very much. Koch successfully graduated from the University of Göttingen. In 1866 he began to work in various hospitals. In 1870, during the war, a famous explorer worked as a doctor in a hospital. Medicine and biology became his vocation. Robert Koch himself suffered from myopia.

Note that in 1882, Heinrich Koch was able to isolate a bacterium that leads to tuberculosis. In those days, tuberculosis was the cause of increased mortality in Germany as well. Koch's wand, after 17 years of labor in the laboratory, was finally revealed. Then microbiological research began to be carried out at a completely new level. This should be kept in mind.

Then there was a unique opportunity to study not only the morphology, but also the biochemical characteristics of microbes. Koch's methods were the cause of the formation of medical microbiology. So, the microscope was presented to him in 1871 for his birthday, and the scientist began to spend all his days with him. The use of an objective immersed in oil made it possible to use lenses with greater curvature in research.

The researcher developed the principle of acquiring evidence that a certain microorganism is capable of causing a particular disease. They are still at the Institute of Medical Microbiology. The scientist used lighting in microscopy, introduced microphotography. This was new! Koch publishes postulates that have been called "Koch's tirade".

Under the microscope, the scientist examined various tissues. We add that he introduced the concept of a solid nutrient medium. When microbes were applied to such a medium, each microorganism was the founder of the colony exactly where it appeared on the nutrient medium. In 1880, Heinrich Robert Koch was appointed advisor in the health department. Soon his world-famous work "Methods for the Study of Pathogenic Organisms" is published.

In 1890, at the Medical Congress in Berlin, the scientist demonstrated a report on the discovery of tuberculin, that is, a substance produced by the tubercle bacillus. Thus, tuberculin could be used to diagnose the formidable disease of tuberculosis (Koch's test). Research has made it possible to obtain methods for combating typhoid fever, sleeping sickness, and plague. It is curious that before Koch's research, scientists observed microbes without color, and Koch began to stain bacteria.

By the way, the bacteriologist was close to discovering the role of mosquitoes in the spread of malaria. We add that he headed the Institute for Infectious Diseases in Berlin. The Government then sent Koch to India and Egypt, where cholera was raging. There scientists discovered a cholera embryo. The fame of Heinrich Koch increased. His numerous discoveries contributed to bacteriology, microbiology and other fields of knowledge.

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We continue a series of essays on the life of famous scientists who left a very noticeable mark on world science and the history of mankind.

Of course, this was unheard of courage. Little known medic Robert Koch, mixing something colored there in biological samples taken from a consumptive patient, poisoned several guinea pigs with them and declared on March 24, 1882 that he had managed to catch a bacterium that no medical genius could catch before him. And this bacterium did not look like a bacterium: a stick is a stick.

The upstart doctor's full name was Heinrich Hermann Robert Koch. He was born on December 11, 1843 in the Lower Saxon city of Clausthal-Zellerfeld, in the family mining engineer Hermann Koch and daughter of the Chief Inspector of the Kingdom of Hanover Juliana Mathilde Henriette Koch, née Bivend. Grandfather Heinrich Bivend he adored his grandson and allowed him everything, even to dig into his favorite herbarium, which he, together with his son, as an amateur botanist, carefully collected for many years. The boy liked the multi-colored and variously shaped leaves and beautiful flowers, which retained their beauty and mystery in their deadly dryness. Following the example of his grandfather and uncle, he also began to collect his own herbarium, becoming an amateur botanist at a preschool age.

He was sent to elementary school when he was less than five years old. At the same time, he already knew how, albeit in warehouses, but quite tolerably to read and even write. Three years later, the boy moved to the local gymnasium, where the teachers quickly recognized Robert as the best student in the class.

He really studied with pleasure and, having graduated from the gymnasium with brilliant results, in 1862 he easily entered the University of Göttingen, famous for its rich scientific traditions. He began with the study of physics and botany, but gradually switched almost completely to medicine. Of course, brilliant teachers who glorified the German medical school played a significant role in this: anatomist Jacob Henle, physiologist Georg Meissner,clinician Karl Hesse. At their lectures, they talked about incredible things: that there are living organisms so small that they cannot be seen with the naked eye, that it is these organisms, called Bacteria (in Greek - “wand”), that cause many diseases, and that to fight with them, despite the microscopic size (and maybe because of this) is extremely difficult. The young man spent hours at the university microscope, growing microbial cultures in Petri dishes, and with bated breath, to broken eyes, watched how alien life flourished in a nutrient solution.

In 1867, a young man, only a year after receiving a diploma in medical practice, started a family. young wife, Emma Adelphine Josephine Fratz, soon gave her husband a daughter, Gertrude. But with the work of Dr. Koch was bad. For 4 years he changed five cities, in each of which he tried to organize a private practice. But everywhere their old doctors were already firmly seated, and the townspeople did not want to change the old for the young. But Koch's cherished dream was not a doctor's office, but a small cabin of an ocean ship in which he would perform, following the example Charles Darwin, trip around the world. Robert tried more than once to get a position as a ship's doctor, but nothing came of it and his dreams remained dreams.

Finally, he managed to get a job as an assistant in a hospital for the insane in the town of Rackwitz, but he did not work there for long. When the Franco-Prussian War broke out in 1870, Robert, despite his severe myopia, which exempted him from military service, signed up as a volunteer in a field hospital. But for the most part, he had to treat there not wounds and fractures characteristic of wars, but banal cholera and typhoid fever. After demobilization in 1871, he received a position as a county sanitary doctor in the city of Wolstein. For his 28th birthday, his wife gave him a real and very good microscope. It was an imprudent step on her part: having at his full disposal a powerful optical instrument, Robert practically abandoned his practice and devoted almost all his time to observations. He bought an expensive photographic apparatus, attached it to a microscope, and began not only to observe the life of microbes, but, like a tabloid reporter, to fix it on film. In order for the pale bacteria to stand out against the background of an equally pale surrounding world, he learned to tint them with various dyes, making the microorganisms brighter and more noticeable. Finally, in order to test the theory in practice, Koch brought into his home a whole army of laboratory mice, which he periodically infected with one, then another, then a third bacillus.

Robert Koch (right) examines a crocodile with a surgeon. In the blood of a crocodile, the causative agent of sleeping sickness (African trypanosomiasis). Photo: www.globallookpress.com

Upon learning that his scientific idol, the inventor of vaccines and one of the pioneers of immunology Louis Pasteur trying to find the causative agent of anthrax, Robert decided to try his luck in the same sector. Having received tissue samples from sick animals, he rather quickly identified the most specific among the many microorganisms present there and completely traced their life cycle. The result was a real photo essay, from which it was quite clear which of the bacteria is responsible for the disease. As a result of his investigations, Koch published two articles in 1876 and 1877, in which, in addition to talking directly about anthrax, he also spoke about his methods: microphotography and coloring. The specialists of the famous Konheim laboratory became aware of the scientist's works, who, in turn, told the whole world about a promising researcher. Robert's career took off, in 1880 he received a position as government adviser to the Imperial Health Office in Berlin, and in 1881 he published another of his important works: "Methods for the Study of Pathogenic Organisms", in which he explained exactly how cultures of bacteria should be grown.

Meanwhile, not wanting it at all, by his success in the search for the anthrax bacterium, Koch drew upon himself the wrath of the same Pasteur, whose example he followed. The classic of world microbiology could not forgive the young upstart for daring to criticize his methods as insufficiently effective. In response publications, he attacked his opponent with caustic criticism, which threatened to bury Robert as a scientist if he failed to prove his case with some high-profile example. Robert Koch did not give up. He picked up the glove that had been tossed to him.

Mankind has been familiar with consumption or tuberculosis for more than one thousand years. As early as the Babylonian Codex of Hammurabi (circa 1750 BC), a husband's right to divorce his wife was recorded if she showed signs of a lung disease. In Koch's time, it was one of the most common untreatable diseases. Every seventh person died from it in Europe. Many doctors generally considered consumption to be a congenital disease, which is useless to fight. All that doctors could advise was to go to a resort where the disease was not so acute. This disease Robert Koch identified as his next goal. The case was helped by the fact that next to his laboratory there was a clinic, practically clogged with tuberculosis patients.

Selected and planted on a nutritious ration from the blood of animals, they began to behave somewhat more actively. Koch followed the bacteria and realized that he was faced with completely original organisms. Unlike most microbes, which divided every few minutes, the life cycle of these "sticks" lasted from 14 to 18 hours. They grew slowly, but were extremely hardy and survived even after five minutes of boiling. In order to grow a normal culture out of them, it was no longer enough for a couple of days, they had to wait from a month to a month and a half. But the scientist was in no hurry. He methodically examined the enemy, and only after receiving a sufficient amount of a pure sample, introduced it to the experimental guinea pigs. They soon developed symptoms of tuberculosis. Only after that the scientist decided to tell the world about his discovery.

In the same publication of March 24, 1882, he also described the basic principles of the search for pathogenic bacteria, which should lead to success. The principles that microbiologists still use today are called Koch's postulates, or "Koch's triad":

It is necessary to make sure that this microbe is present in this disease,
It is necessary to obtain a pure culture of the microbe,
It is necessary to experimentally induce the same disease with this pure culture.

The article produced the effect of an exploding bomb in the scientific world. Now, after many researchers in various countries have checked and confirmed the correctness of the conclusions of the German doctor, no one could argue with his methods and conclusions.

Koch himself was forced to take a break from tuberculosis for a while and devote his strength to a new ailment. The German government sent him as part of a scientific expedition to Egypt, and then to India to search for the causes of the cholera that tormented these countries. And here the scientist's methods did not fail: Robert soon announced that he had managed to find the culprit microorganism, called "cholera vibrio."

In 1885, the scientist received a professorship at the University of Berlin and became director of the newly established Institute for Infectious Diseases. In a new field, he resumed the fighting against tuberculosis. Now that the enemy had been identified, it was time to start destroying it. In 1890, Dr. Koch announced that he had found a cure. It was a waste product of the “sticks” discovered by Koch. Robert called the remedy "tuberculin". The first person to whom Koch gave an injection of "tuberculin" was himself, the second was his closest assistant. However, the announcement was somewhat hasty. As a result of clinical trials, it turned out that the therapeutic effect of "tuberculin" is close to zero, and its introduction often resulted in serious poisoning of the body. But quite unexpectedly, it turned out that with its help a terrible disease can be detected already at a very early stage. The first defeat of Koch turned into the first big victory over tuberculosis, because through a new method, which we today call the "Mantoux reaction" (after the French medic Charles Mantoux, who perfected this diagnostic method in 1910), it was possible to identify infected people and animals in time and stop the spread of infection.

In 1890, a global change took place in the life of a scientist. This 50-year-old quiet, reserved and kind person, an admirer of Goethe's work and a passionate fan of chess, unexpectedly divorced his wife Emma. It was a rather bold step: although divorce had been allowed in Germany for 15 years, those who took advantage of this opportunity were viewed with very great condemnation by society. But the scientist burned with passion. Posing for a portrait in front of a 17 year old student of the famous artist Gustav Gref Hedviga Freiberg, he burned with an extraordinary passion for her. And the girl answered him in return. Moreover, Hedwig has now become the most faithful and selfless assistant to the scientist. It was she who became the second person to experience the effects of "tuberculin". Unlike Emma, Hedwig accompanied Koch on all trips, difficult expeditions and helped in all research. In 1893, Robert and Hedwig entered into a legal marriage that bound them for the rest of their lives.

Robert Koch with his second wife Hedwig in 1908 Photo: commons.wikimedia.org

In 1896, the couple went to East Africa. There, their target was a cattle plague. A year later they were already studying human plague in India. In 1899, in Italy, Java, and New Guinea, Robert and Hedwig fought malaria. And in 1903, while studying a new epizootic (epidemic in animals) of cattle in Central Africa, Dr. Koch found its causative agent and, following the spread of the disease, called the disease "African coastal fever."

In 1905, Dr. Robert Koch was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for "research and discoveries concerning the treatment of tuberculosis". In his Nobel lecture, he modestly said that if we try to comprehend the path "which has been traveled in recent years in the fight against such a widespread disease as tuberculosis, we cannot fail to state that the first important steps have been taken here." A year later, the government awarded him the Prussian Order of Honor. An honorary doctorate was awarded to the scientist by the universities of Heidelberg and Bologna. The French Academy of Sciences, the Royal Society of London, the British Medical Association and many other scientific societies have elected him as their foreign member.

In 1904, the scientist resigned from the post of director of the institute. But he could not just relax and enjoy life. Already in 1906, he and his wife again went on a long expedition to East and Central Africa to fight sleeping sickness. And in April 1909, Robert Koch read his last report on the topic "Epidemiology of Tuberculosis" in Berlin at the Academy of Sciences.

Robert Koch Institute in Berlin. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

“The idea that microorganisms must be the cause of infectious diseases has long been expressed by a few outstanding minds, but the first discoveries in this area were extremely skeptical. It was difficult at first to prove in an irrefutable way that the microorganisms found really constitute the cause of the disease. The validity of this position was soon fully proved for many infectious diseases ...

If hopes are justified and if we manage to master the microscopic but powerful enemy in at least one bacterial infectious disease, then I have no doubt that we will soon achieve the same for other diseases.

Heinrich Hermann Robert Koch

Koch's work brought him wide fame and in 1880, thanks to the efforts of Konheim, Koch became a government adviser at the Imperial Health Department in Berlin.

In 1881, Koch published Methods for the Study of Pathogenic Organisms, which describes a method for growing microbes on solid nutrient media. This method was important for the isolation and study of pure bacterial cultures. Shortly thereafter, a heated discussion broke out between Koch and Pasteur, until then the leader in microbiology. After Koch published sharply critical reviews of Pasteur's anthrax research, the latter's leadership was shaken, and a feud broke out between the two eminent scientists that continued for several years. All this time they have been having heated debates and discussions on the pages of magazines and in public speeches.

Tuberculosis

Later, Koch made attempts to find the causative agent of tuberculosis, a disease at that time widespread and the main cause of death. The proximity of the Charite clinic, filled with tuberculosis patients, makes it easier for him - 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 does not manage to detect the causative agent of the disease. Soon Koch realizes that the only way to achieve the goal is with the help of dyes. Unfortunately, ordinary dyes are too weak, but after several months of unsuccessful work, he still manages to find the necessary substances.

Koch stains the pounded tubercular tissue of the 271st preparation in methyl blue, and then in a caustic red-brown dye used in leather finishing, and reveals tiny, slightly curved, bright blue-colored sticks - Koch's sticks.

On March 24, 1882, when he announced that he had succeeded in isolating the bacterium that causes tuberculosis, Koch achieved the greatest triumph of his 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 underlie medical microbiology.

Cholera

Koch's study of tuberculosis was interrupted when, on the instructions of the German government, as part of a scientific expedition, he left for Egypt and India in order 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 established Hygiene Institute. At the same time, he continues to research 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 tubercle bacillus during its life - tuberculin, which caused an allergic reaction in tuberculosis patients. However, in practice, tuberculin was not used to treat tuberculosis, since it did not have any special therapeutic properties, but on the contrary, its administration was accompanied by toxic reactions and caused poisoning, which caused 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 big role in the fight against tuberculosis in cows.

Awards

In 1905, for "research and discoveries concerning the treatment of tuberculosis", Robert Koch was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. In the Nobel lecture, the laureate said that if we take a look at the path "which has been traveled in recent years in the fight against such a widespread disease as tuberculosis, we cannot fail to state that the first important steps have been taken here."

Koch received 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 Society of London, the British Medical Association and many other scientific societies.

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

Contribution to science

The discoveries of Robert Koch made an invaluable contribution to the development of public health, 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.