Louis Pasteur saved millions of lives with science, but his discoveries went far beyond pasteurization. This article dives into the unexpected experiments, bizarre challenges, and personal passions of the man who changed how we fight disease—and brew beer.
Louis Pasteur
Louis Pasteur wasn’t a medical doctor—he was a chemist who turned to biology through research and curiosity.
He invented pasteurization to stop wine and beer from spoiling, not milk.
Pasteur helped save France’s silk industry by finding a parasite killing silkworms and developing a way to detect it.
He created the first lab-made vaccine for rabies using dried spinal tissue from infected rabbits.
The first boy to receive the rabies vaccine, Joseph Meister, later became a guard at Pasteur’s crypt.
Louis Pasteur was paralyzed on one side of his body after a stroke but continued working with the help of assistants.
He proved that germs cause disease by showing that sterilized broth remained clean unless exposed to air.
He fiercely opposed the idea of “spontaneous generation,” winning over skeptics with clever experiments using swan-neck flasks.
Louis Pasteur tested his rabies vaccine on dogs for years before daring to use it on a human.
His work directly inspired Joseph Lister to pioneer antiseptic surgery techniques.
Pasteur wasn’t modest—he demanded military honors and a full state funeral, which he received.
He once used chickens to develop a vaccine for cholera by accidentally injecting them with weakened bacteria.
Louis Pasteur believed in scientific nationalism, often linking his discoveries to France’s pride and power.
He rarely published raw data, instead relying on dramatic presentations and public lectures to make his case.
He’s buried in a stunning crypt beneath the Pasteur Institute, designed like a cathedral for science.
