Louis Pasteur

What do milk, wine and rabies shots have in common? They all connect to Louis Pasteur! Born in 1822, Pasteur was a French scientist in the 1800s who discovered that tiny living things called microbes cause diseases and make food go bad. Today we'll focus on his work that changed medicine and food safety.

Pasteur studied beer, wine, and milk. He showed that invisible microbes make these foods spoil and that heating liquids for a short time kills the bad germs but keeps taste — a process now called pasteurization. This helped bakers and brewers and kept milk safe to drink, cutting sickness from spoiled food.

He proved germs cause disease by careful experiments, like the swan-neck flask test that stopped the idea that life appears from nothing. Pasteur also developed vaccines for chicken cholera and anthrax, and later a rabies vaccine that saved a boy named Joseph Meister. His methods taught doctors how to prevent illness.

Thanks to Pasteur we have cleaner hospitals, safer food, and modern vaccines. He helped found the Pasteur Institute to keep fighting germs. Next time you drink milk, eat yogurt, or get a vaccine, remember Louis Pasteur — the scientist who made the invisible world of germs part of everyday science and saved millions.