Francesco Redi (1626–1697) 

 Italian physician who demonstrated that maggots appear on decaying meat only when flies
are able to lay eggs on the meat in 1668. He concluded maggots came from living flies,
not from rotting meat or from dead flies or maggots (this refuted spontaneous
generation)
 Father of Parasitology

Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (1632–1723)

 Improved the microscope and laid foundation for microbiology.

 The first microbiologist, he discovered protozoa, the single-celled organisms which he called
"animalcules"
 First microbiologist to study muscle fibers, bacteria, spermatozoa and blood flow in
capillaries.

Robert Hooke (1635–1703)

 First to use a microscope to observe living things.

 Publishes his discovery of cells in cork.
 Cell Theory– Living things are composed of cells (1665)

John Turberville Needham (1713–1781)

 claimed that microorganisms could arise spontaneously from a heated nutrient brothin 1745

Lazzaro Spallanzani (1729–1799)

 Italian anatomist who disputes spontaneous generation. Repeated Needham’s experiments

and found that new microorganisms could settle only in a broth if the broth was exposed to
the air (1765)
 Found that boiling broth would sterilize it and kill any microorganisms in it.

Edward Jenner (1749–1823)

 Introduced a vaccination procedure for smallpox in 1796. His discovery of the smallpox
vaccine was first successful vaccine ever to be developed and remains the only effective
preventive treatment for the fatal smallpox disease.

Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis (1818–1865)

 Hungarian physician who instituted the first use of antiseptics to reduce hand-born disease. 
 Demonstrated that childbed fever was contagious and could be transmitted from a physician
to a patient.
Was called the “savior of mothers”, he discovered that hand-washing could drastically reduce
the number of women dying after childbirth
 considered a pioneer of antiseptic procedures

Louis Pasteur (1822–1895)

  Expanded upon Spallanzani’s findings and demonstrated that microorganisms are in the air
everywhere. This finally disproved the theory of spontaneous generation.
 Developed the germ theory of disease which offered a theoretical explanation for
Semmelweis’ findings
 Led to the development of the aseptic techniques.
 Offered proof of biogenesis in 1861
 Discovered that avirilent bacteria could be used as a a vaccine for fowl cholera, coined
"vaccine".

Ferdinand Julius Cohn (1828–1898)

 German biologist who classified bacteria into four groups based on shape (sphericals,
short rods, threads, and spirals).
 First to show that Bacillus can change from a vegetative state to an endospore state
when subjected to an environment deleterious to the vegetative state.
 His studies laid the groundwork for discovering and cataloging microbes.

Joseph Lister (1827–1912)

 A British surgeon and a pioneer of antiseptic surgery. He was instrumental in controlling the
number of post-surgery infections by using disinfectants (carbolic acid) in order to sterilize
surgical instruments
 Published the first work on antiseptic surgery, beginning the trend towards modern aseptic
techniques in medicine. He is known as the father of modern surgery.

Robert Koch (1843–1910)

 Established that microbes can cause disease. He demonstrated that the fatal disease
anthrax is caused by a bacterium (Bacillus anthracis) in 1876
 Identified the causative agent of tuberculosis (1882) and cholera (1883).
 Based on his experiments, he devised criteria for establishing a causal link between a
microbe and a disease (known as Koch’s postulates)
 Introduced the use of pure culture techniques for handling bacteria in a laboratory.

Élie Metchnikoff (1845–1916)

 Father of natural immunity

 Credited with the discovery of phagocytes, immune cells that protect organisms by ingesting
foreign particles or microorganisms, by conducting experiments on starfish larvae in 1882

Frederick Griffith (1879–1941)

 British bacteriologist who conducted a series of experiments using Streptococcus

pneumoniae bacteria and mice. It was one of the first experiments showing that bacteria can
get genetic information through a process called transformation.

Alexander Fleming (1881–1955)

 Discovered and described the properties of the first antibiotic, penicillin. This paved the way
for the use of antibiotics in modern healthcare
  Observed that mold Penecillium inhibited the growth of Staphylococcus aureus.

Edward Lawrie Tatum (1909–1975)

 helped demonstrate that genes determine the structure of particular enzymes or otherwise
act by regulating specific chemical processes in living things.
 was one of the first to experimentally demonstrate the importance of “sex” in bacteria.