Robert Koch

Who is Robert Koch featured in today's Google Doodle?

Robert Heinrich Hermann Koch Germany: 11 December 1843 - 27 May 1910) was a German physician and microbiologist. As the founder of modern bacteriology, he has known for his role in identifying the causative agents of tuberculosis, cholera, and anthrax and for giving experimental support for the concept of infectious disease.  Koch experimented with toxic medicines, including arsenic preparations, colonial African subjects.

 In addition to his innovative studies on these diseases, which included experimenting humans, Koch created and improved laboratory technologies and techniques in the field of microbiology, and made key discoveries in public health.  His research led to the creation of Koch's postulates, a series of four generalized principles linking specific microorganisms to specific diseases that today remain "gold standard" in medical microbiology.  As a result of his groundbreaking research on tuberculosis, Koch received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1905. The Robert Koch Institute is named in his Honor.

Early life and education

Robert Koch was born in Clausthal, Hanover, Germany, on 11 December 1843, to Hermann Koch and Mathilde Julie Henriette View and. Koch excelled in academics from an early age. Before entering school in 1848, he had taught himself how to read and write.  He graduated from high school in 1862, has excelled in science and mathematics. At the age of 19, Koch entered the University of Göttingen, studying natural science.  However, after three semesters, Koch decided to change his area of study, as he is aspired to be a physician. During his fifth semester of medical school, Jacob Henle, an anatomist who had published a theory of contagion in 1840, asked him to participate in his research project on uterine nerve structure.  In his sixth semester, Koch began to conduct research at the Physiological Institute, where he studied succinic acid secretion. This will eventually form the basis of his dissertation.  In January 1866, Koch graduated from medical school, earning honors of the highest distinction.

Several years after his graduation in 1866, he worked as a surgeon in the Franco-Prussian War, and following his service, worked as a physician in Wollstein in Prussian Posen (now Wolsztyn, Poland). From 1880-85, Koch held a position as government advisor with the Imperial Department of Health. Koch began conducting research on microorganisms in a laboratory connected to his patient's examination room.  Koch's early research in this laboratory yielded one of his major contributions to the field of microbiology, as he developed the technique of growing bacteria.  Furthermore, he managed to isolate and grow selected pathogens in pure laboratory culture.

In 1891, Koch relinquished his Professorship and became director of the Prussian Institute for Infectious Diseases (de) which included a clinical division and beds for the division of clinical research. For this, he accepted harsh conditions. The Prussian Ministry of Health insisted after the scandal with tuberculin, which was discovered and intended as a remedy for tuberculosis, that any of Koch's inventions would not be unconditionally related to the government and he would not be compensated. Koch lost the right to apply for patent protection.