Louis Pasteur Pasteurization

What did Louis Pasteur invent?

When Louis Pasteur discovered that harmful germs in wine and vinegar could be destroyed with heat, Louis Pasteur invented the process now known as pasteurization. It made it possible for manufacturers in France, and everywhere else, to produce, preserve and transport their products without fear they would spoil. Even as Louis Pasteur made his discoveries and proved them scientifically, there was always resistance.

Resistance against Louis Pasteur 's discoveries

Many scientists clung stubbornly to the old views, even those of spontaneous generation. Louis Pasteur was a gentle and compassionate man, but he was also a fighter. Louis Pasteur spent most of his life defending his discoveries and patiently explaining his work to critics, many of who had never even conducted one experiment in his field. It was a lifelong campaign of Louis Pasteur to eradicate ignorance and awaken people to the truth. Louis Pasteur courageously took on the issue of spontaneous generation, even when a professor warned him it was too controversial and would cause him trouble and grief. Pasteur once said:

"A man of science may hope for what may be said of him in the future, but he cannot stop and think of the insults - or the compliments - of his own day."

Louis Pasteur 's experiments and the theory of spontaneous generation

Louis Pasteur finally disproved the theory of spontaneous generation in experiments he conducted in flasks with S-shaped necks. The curve part of the S caught the microbes in the air, allowing the solution at the bottom of the flask to remain uncontaminated. Still, there were those who wouldn't believe that microbes existed free in the air.

So Louis Pasteur set out on a long journey. Louis Pasteur took with him 73 flasks that held fluids in which bacteria could easily multiply. At different stops along his way, he opened the flasks and then resealed them. The trip reached a climax, both literally and figuratively, when he climbed high into the Alps at Mer de Glace. There Louis Pasteur opened and quickly closed twenty different flasks - yet only one became contaminated. The reason for the clean flasks was that humans and animals often breathe bacteria into the air, where it then attaches itself to dust particles. But high in the Alps there were few life forms to spread bacteria, and less dust to absorb it.