Do you wash your hands before and after meals or after using washrooms? Do you keep your food in air-tight containers? Do you prefer your food and milk hot? Have you heard from doctors about how to live a germ-free life? If your answer is ‘yes’ to all these questions then you should know even in the nineteenth-century people were not aware of the existence of germs at all. However, one French scientist who was working mostly in the dairy industry was intrigued by a natural phenomenon. The showering taste of beer, milk, and fruit juices was the reason behind his attention. Back then, the popular belief was – “That’s a spontaneous process”. However, he understood there must be some reason behind that apparent ‘spontaneous process’. Finally, he introduced the Pasteurization process.
After, days of experimentation he concluded that germs are present in the atmosphere and it can contaminate uncovered foods and beverages. To prove his theory he gave numerous public demonstrations. He invented the ground-breaking ‘Pasteurization’ procedure to kill the germs present in beverages. His method magically increased the shelf life of food and beverages. As a direct result, it drastically increased the profit margin of the dairy industry.
He dedicated his life to spreading awareness about living germ-free hygienic lives. In those days even qualified medical professionals also were not aware of the air-borne germs and bacteria. Therefore, many doctors, nurses, and even surgeons were not maintaining adequate hygiene in their professional lives. He raised awareness even among professionally qualified doctors, nurses, and surgeons to live germ-free hygienic lives and also helped them to set hygiene protocols.
His crusade didn’t end with the invention of the Pasteurization method. His next contribution to society was introducing the vaccination method. He was working with dairy industries and saved many animals from deadly diseases such as rabies, anthrax, chicken cholera, etc for years. His vaccination method proved life-saving for many animals and he was quite popular for that. Since he was not a licensed physician that’s why he had not applied his vaccine on humans so far.
However, on July 6, 1885, a woman approached him with his dying 9-year-old son Joseph Meister. Little Joseph was severely mauled by a rabid dog. By looking at that kid he realized the death of that boy was inevitable. In such a desperate situation, his fellow doctor colleagues gave him that much-needed permission to apply his vaccine to that boy. He did this for the next thirteen days. After fourteen doses of vaccines, the boy was completely cured.
The new era of immunization started with another ground-breaking invention of the French scientist Louis Pasteur. Pasteur’s discoveries have saved countless lives worldwide even in this modern era. The process of pasteurization ensures the safety of everyday products like milk. His work on vaccination laid the foundation for protecting humans and animals from infectious diseases.
Do you like this amazing story of a genius scientist? If you love such fascinating stories of inventions and discoveries, visit our “Stories of Invention” section. Discover how geniuses defeated every obstacle on their path to reach their target.
