Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Science and Society
  • Published:

Louis Pasteur's beer of revenge

Nature Reviews Immunology volume 1, pages 229–232 (2001)Cite this article

Abstract

Although by the mid-nineteenth century evidence existed for an association between micoorganisms and disease, it was the combined efforts of Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch that created the germ theory of disease — the theory that specific microbes cause specific diseases. Surprisingly, the relationship between the two founders of microbiology and immunology was far from friendly.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Louis Pasteur and Pierre-Augustin Bertin (1874).
Figure 2: Pasteur working in the laboratories of the Whitbread breweries.
Figure 3: Robert Koch.

References

  1. Pasteur, L. Studies on Fermentation: the Diseases of Beer (Macmillan and Co., London, 1879).

    Google Scholar 

  2. Pasteur, L. in Comptes Rendus des Travaux de Congrès Viticole et Séricole de Lyon 42 (9–14 Septembre 1872).

    Google Scholar 

  3. Vallery-Radot, R. The Life of Pasteur (Constable and Co. Ltd, London, 1906).

    Google Scholar 

  4. Vallery-Radot, L. P. (ed.) Louis Pasteur. Correspondence Générale Vol. 2 (Flammarion, Paris, 1951).

    Google Scholar 

  5. Redman, N. B. Louis Pasteur and the brewing industry. The Brewer (September, 1995).

  6. Debré, P. Louis Pasteur (Johns Hopkins University Press, London, 1994).

    Google Scholar 

  7. Brock T. D. Robert Koch: a Life in Medicine and Bacteriology (Springer, Berlin, 1988).

    Google Scholar 

  8. Pasteur, L. & Thuillier, L. Correspondence of Pasteur and Thuillier (University of Alabama Alabama, 1969).

    Google Scholar 

  9. Pasteur L. Remarks on anthracic vaccination as a prophylactic of splenic fever. Br. Med. J. April 8, 489 (1882).

  10. Pasteur L. De l'attenuation des virus. Quat. Congr. Int. Hyg. Démogr. 1, 145 (1882).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This article was based, in part, on a talk by A.G.B. recorded for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. A.G.B. is supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. the Autoimmunity Research Group, Centenary Institute of Cancer Medicine and Cell Biology, Locked bag #6, Newtown, 2042, New South Wales, Australia

    Alan G. Baxter

Authors
  1. Alan G. Baxter
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Related links

Related links

FURTHER INFORMATION

Alan Baxter's lab

LabExplorer's the Life and Times of Louis Pasteur

Nobel e-Museum, Biography of Robert Koch

Pasteur Institute

Robert Koch Institute

The Beer Hunter's Beer History

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Baxter, A. Louis Pasteur's beer of revenge. Nat Rev Immunol 1, 229–232 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/35105083

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/35105083

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing