2023-07-06 19:00:00
He was born in the city of Dole, in eastern France, on December 27, 1822. As a young man he was not a promising student in natural sciences, although he did excel in artistic painting, so his first personal ambition was to be art teacher.
In 1842, he obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematical Sciences, with a mediocre qualification in chemistry although, a few years later, he obtained a Doctorate in Physical and Chemical Sciences in Paris.
Subsequently, he was appointed dean of the Faculty of Sciences at the University of Lille (LIL) and held the position of director of scientific studies at the Ecole Normale in Paris, whose laboratory he directed from 1867.
Together with Claude Bernard they discovered the chemical process that was called “pasteurization” in his tribute. It is a thermal work carried out in liquid foods, whose purpose is to reduce the presence of pathogens, which prevents many diseases.
In 1885 a boy, Joseph Meister, was bitten by a mad dog when the vaccine was in the experimental phase and had only been tested on animals.
Rabies is an infectious and viral disease that attacks the central nervous system and that, at that time, had a lethality close to 100 percent.
The difficulty was that Pasteur could have legal problems because, not being a doctor, he could not administer the vaccine; although if he didn’t, the child was going to die without a doubt.
However, after consulting with his colleagues, he decided to inoculate the young man with the vaccine for ten days. The treatment was completely successful, the boy recovered from his injuries and never developed rabies.
As an adult, Meister recounted, during a radio interview, how he traveled from Alsace to Paris with his mother, who was desperate at the possibility of her son’s death, in order to see Pasteur, her last hope.
From its creation in 1888 until his death, Pasteur was director of the institute that bears his name.
For all his works in the field of science, he is considered the pioneer of modern microbiology.
The story is also news. Radius Profile.
Screenplay by Javier Pasaragua. Locution by Pita Fortín
by Radio Profile
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