5. Robert Koch

About this Lecture

Lecture

In this module, we examine the career of Robert Koch and his invention of the bacteriological laboratory. We look at Koch’s work in discovering the causative agents of many of the 19th-century's deadliest diseases. We also look at how Koch developed a system, which is still used today, for scientifically proving the cause of a disease. We then weigh in on how successful Koch was and whether his advancements in the laboratory can indeed be described as revolutionary.

Course

In this course, Professor Michael Worboys (University of Manchester) explores the Germ Theory of Disease and the Bacteriological Revolution in the period 1860 to 1900. In the first module, we look at the ideas that existed about the causes and spread of infectious diseases before Germ Theory. We then turn to examine the theory itself. After this, we look at whether the Bacteriological Revolution can truly be called a revolution. The fourth module discusses Louis Pasteur’s work on vaccines. The fifth follows the career of Robert Koch and his creation of laboratory methods to investigate germs and their actions. In the final module, we review the key ideas of the course by showing how the understanding, prevention, and treatment of tuberculosis changed over the period.

Lecturer

Michael Worboys is Emeritus Professor at the Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine (CHSTM) at the University of Manchester. He has written widely on the subject of Germ Theory and the Bacteriological Revolution, including a number of notable articles and his book Rabies in Britain: Dogs, Disease and Culture, 1830–2000. He has also contributed to the BBC Radio Series 'In Our Time' on the subject of Louis Pasteur.