47 Facts About Robert Koch

1.

Heinrich Hermann Robert Koch was a German physician and microbiologist.

2.

Robert Koch was the first to use the oil immersion lens, condenser, and microphotography in microscopy.

3.

The methods Robert Koch used in bacteriology led to establishment of a medical concept known as Robert Koch's postulates, four generalized medical principles to ascertain the relationship of pathogens with specific diseases.

4.

Robert Koch was born in Clausthal, Germany, on 11 December 1843, to Hermann Robert Koch and Mathilde Julie Henriette.

5.

Robert Koch completed secondary education in 1862, having excelled in science and math.

6.

At the age of 19, in 1862, Robert Koch entered the University of Gottingen to study natural science.

7.

Robert Koch was appointed assistant in the university's Pathological Museum.

8.

Robert Koch was discharged a year later and was appointed as a district physician in Wollstein in Prussian Posen.

9.

Robert Koch began conducting research on microorganisms in a laboratory connected to his patient examination room.

10.

Robert Koch was transferred to Breslau as district physician in 1879.

11.

In 1885, Robert Koch received two appointments as an administrator and professor at Berlin University.

12.

Robert Koch became Director of Hygienic Institute and Chair of the Faculty of Medicine.

13.

The Prussian Ministry of Health insisted after the 1890 scandal with tuberculin, which Robert Koch had discovered and intended as a remedy for tuberculosis, that any of Robert Koch's inventions would unconditionally belong to the government and he would not be compensated.

14.

Robert Koch established the Bugula research camp where up to 1000 people a day were treated with the experimental drug Atoxyl.

15.

Robert Koch made two important developments in microscopy; he was the first to use an oil immersion lens and a condenser that enabled smaller objects to be seen.

16.

Robert Koch introduced the "bedrock methods" of bacterial staining using methylene blue and Bismarck brown dye.

17.

Robert Koch found that potato slices were not suitable media for all organisms, and later began to use nutrient solutions with gelatin.

18.

Robert Koch publicly demonstrated his plating method at the Seventh International Medical Congress in London in August 1881.

19.

Robert Koch simply discarded the use of glass plate and instead used the circular glass dish directly, not just as moist chamber, but as the main culture container.

20.

Robert Koch is widely known for his work with anthrax, discovering the causative agent of the fatal disease to be Bacillus anthracis.

21.

Robert Koch published the discovery in a booklet as "Die Atiologie der Milzbrand-Krankheit, Begrundet auf die Entwicklungsgeschichte des Bacillus Anthracis" in 1876 while working at in Wollstein.

22.

Robert Koch discovered the formation of spores in anthrax bacteria, which could remain dormant under specific conditions.

23.

However Robert Koch was convinced that the disease was caused by a bacterium and was infectious.

24.

Robert Koch published the discovery as "Die Atiologie der Tuberkulose", and presented before the German Physiological Society at Berlin on 24 March 1882.

25.

Robert Koch soon found that the intestinal mucosa of people who died of cholera always had bacterial infection, yet could not confirm whether the bacteria were the causative pathogens.

26.

Robert Koch soon found that the river Ganges was the source of cholera.

27.

Robert Koch performed autopsies of almost 100 bodies, and found in each bacterial infection.

28.

Robert Koch identified the same bacteria from water tanks, linking the source of the infection.

29.

Robert Koch gave much of his research attention on tuberculosis throughout his career.

30.

Robert Koch developed a method for examining antibacterial activity by mixing the gelatin-based culture media with a yellow dye, auramin.

31.

Robert Koch's notebook indicates that by February 1890, he tested hundreds of compounds.

32.

Robert Koch made a vague announcement in August 1890 at the Tenth International Medical Congress in Berlin, saying,.

33.

Robert Koch's discovery was not a total failure, the substance is today used for hypersensitivity test for tuberculosis patients.

34.

Robert Koch described the importance of pure cultures in isolating disease-causing organisms and explained the necessary steps to obtain these cultures, methods which are summarized in Koch's four postulates.

35.

In July 1867, Robert Koch married Emma Adolfine Josephine Fraatz, and the two had a daughter, Gertrude, in 1868.

36.

On 9 April 1910, Robert Koch suffered a heart attack and never made a complete recovery.

37.

Robert Koch was made a Knight Grand Cross in the Prussian Order of the Red Eagle on 19 November 1890, and was elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society in 1897.

38.

Robert Koch established the Royal Prussian Institute for Infectious Diseases in Berlin 1891.

39.

The World Health Organization observes "World Tuberculosis Day" every 24 March since 1982 to commemorate the day Robert Koch discovered tuberculosis bacterium.

40.

Robert Koch's life was the subject of a 1939 German produced motion picture that featured Oscar winning actor Emil Jannings in the title role.

41.

The conflict started when Robert Koch interpreted his discovery of anthrax bacillus in 1876 as causality, that is, the germ caused the anthrax infections.

42.

Pasteur therefore argued that Robert Koch's discovery was not the full proof of causality, but Pasteur's anthrax vaccine developed in 1881 was.

43.

When Robert Koch discovered tuberculin in 1890 as a medication for tuberculosis, he kept the experiment secret and avoided disclosing the source.

44.

One week later, Robert Koch publicised that the drug was a glycerine extract of a pure cultivation of the tuberculosis bacilli.

45.

Robert Koch was prohibited from working on tuberculin and from claim for patent rights in any of his subsequent works.

46.

Robert Koch initially believed that human and cattle tuberculosis bacilli were different pathogens when he made the discovery in 1882.

47.

Robert Koch was then appointed as a "neutral arbitrator" to make the final decision.