List of microbiologists

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Major contributions to the science of microbiology (as a discipline in its modern sense) have spanned the time from the mid-17th century month by month to the present day. The following is a list of notable microbiologists who have made significant contributions to the study of microorganisms. Many of those listed have received a Nobel prize for their contributions to the field of microbiology. The others are typically considered historical figures whose work in microbiology had a notable impact in the field. Those microbiologists who currently work in the field have been excluded unless they have received recognition beyond that of being on the faculty in a college or university.

Contents

Proto-microbiologists

Microbiologists

Birth - DeathMicrobiologistNationalityContribution summary
1632–1723 Anthonie van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723). Natuurkundige te Delft Rijksmuseum SK-A-957.jpeg Antonie van Leeuwenhoek DutchConsidered to be the first acknowledged microscopist. Van Leeuwenhoek was the first to observe microscopic organisms, using simple single-lensed microscopes of his own design. [1]
1729–1799 Spallanzani2.jpg Lazzaro Spallanzani ItalianProved that bacteria did not arise due to spontaneous generation by developing a sealed, sterile broth medium. [2] [3]
1749–1823 Edward Jenner by James Northcote.jpg Edward Jenner EnglishDeveloped vaccination techniques against smallpox. [2]
1818–1865 Semmelweis Ignac.jpg Ignaz Semmelweis HungarianDemonstrated that doctors washing their hands with chlorine solution significantly reduced mortality of women giving birth in hospital setting. [4]
1853–1938 Hans Christian Gram portrait by Hansen & Weller.jpg Hans Christian Gram DanishDeveloped the Gram stain used to identify and classify bacteria. [2]
1845–1922 Charles Laveran nobel.jpg Charles Lavaran French1907 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering the causative agents of malaria and trypanosomiasis. [2]
1827–1912 Joseph Lister 1902.jpg Joseph Lister EnglishIntroduced sterilisation techniques to surgery. [2] [5]
1822–1895 Louis Pasteur, foto av Paul Nadar, Crisco edit.jpg Louis Pasteur FrenchSeminal discoveries in vaccination, food safety, and microbial fermentation. A key proponent of the germ theory of disease. [2]
1850–1934 Fannie Hess.JPG Fanny Hesse GermanDeveloped agar for use in culturing bacteria. [2] [6]
1851–1931 Martinus Willem Beijerinck.png Martinus Beijerinck NetherlandsDiscovered the first virus as well as bacterial nitrogen fixation and sulfate reduction.
1885–1948 Marjory Stephenson BritishPioneer of bacterial metabolism.
1871–1957 Kiyoshi Shiga.jpg Kiyoshi Shiga JapaneseDiscovered a bacterium causing an outbreak of dysentery. [2] [7]
1856-1953 Winogradsky signature (cropped).jpg Sergei Winogradsky UkrainianDiscovered the first known forms of chemoautotrophy, in particular lithotrophy and chemosynthesis. Invented the Winogradsky column technique for the study of sediment microbes. Pioneered the study of biogeochemical cycles, particularly the nitrogen cycle and the contribution of nitrifying bacteria.
1854–1917 EmilVonBehring.jpg Emil Adolf von Behring German1901 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for discovering diphtheria antitoxin. [8]
1857–1932 Ronald Ross.jpg Sir Ronald Ross British1902 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering that malaria is transmitted by mosquitoes [9]
1843–1910 RobertKoch cropped.jpg Robert Koch German1905 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for work on tuberculosis; identified causative agents of tuberculosis, cholera, and anthrax. [10]
1845–1922 Charles Laveran nobel.jpg Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran French1907 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for recognizing parasitic protozoa as the causes of malaria and African sleeping sickness. [11]
1857–1940 Julius Wagner-Jauregg.jpg Julius Wagner-Jauregg Austrian1927 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering the neurosyphilis could be treated by inducing fever with malaria parasites. [12]
1866–1936 Jules Nicole.jpg Charles Jules Henri Nicolle French1928 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for determining that typhus is transmitted by body lice. [13]
1895–1964 Gerhard Domagk nobel.jpg Gerhard Domagk German1939 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovering the first commercially available antibiotic: prontosil. [14]
1881–1955 Alexander Fleming 1945.jpg Sir Alexander Fleming Scottish1945 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering penicillin. [15]
1906–1979 Ernst Boris Chain 1945.jpg Sir Ernst Boris Chain British
1898–1968 Howard Walter Florey 1945.jpg Howard Walter Florey Australian
1899–1972 Max Theiler nobel.jpg Max Theiler South African1951 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for developing a vaccine against yellow fever. [16]
1888–1973 Selman Waksman NYWTScrop.jpg Selman Abraham Waksman American1952 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for identifying streptomycin and other antibiotics. [17]

Living

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nobel Prize in Physics</span> One of the five Nobel Prizes established in 1895 by Alfred Nobel

The Nobel Prize in Physics is an annual award given by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for those who have made the most outstanding contributions to mankind in the field of physics. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895 and awarded since 1901, the others being the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Peace Prize, and Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Physics is traditionally the first award presented in the Nobel Prize ceremony.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bacteriology</span> Subdiscipline of microbiology that studies bacteria

Bacteriology is the branch and specialty of biology that studies the morphology, ecology, genetics and biochemistry of bacteria as well as many other aspects related to them. This subdivision of microbiology involves the identification, classification, and characterization of bacterial species. Because of the similarity of thinking and working with microorganisms other than bacteria, such as protozoa, fungi, and viruses, there has been a tendency for the field of bacteriology to extend as microbiology. The terms were formerly often used interchangeably. However, bacteriology can be classified as a distinct science.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bernardo Houssay</span> Argentine physician (1887–1971)

Bernardo Alberto Houssay was an Argentine physiologist. Houssay was a co-recipient of the 1947 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for discovering the role played by pituitary hormones in regulating the amount of glucose in animals, sharing the prize with Carl Ferdinand Cori and Gerty Cori. He is the first Latin American Nobel laureate in the sciences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salvador Luria</span> Italian American microbiologist (1912–1991)

Salvador Edward Luria was an Italian microbiologist, later a naturalized U.S. citizen. He won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1969, with Max Delbrück and Alfred Hershey, for their discoveries on the replication mechanism and the genetic structure of viruses. Salvador Luria also showed that bacterial resistance to viruses (phages) is genetically inherited.

Howard Robert Horvitz ForMemRS NAS AAA&S APS NAM is an American biologist whose research on the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans was awarded the 2002 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, together with Sydney Brenner and John E. Sulston, whose "seminal discoveries concerning the genetic regulation of organ development and programmed cell death" were "important for medical research and have shed new light on the pathogenesis of many diseases".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Selman Waksman</span> Russian Jewish-American biochemist, microbiologist, and Nobel Laureate (1888–1973)

Selman Abraham Waksman was a Jewish American inventor, Nobel Prize laureate, biochemist and microbiologist whose research into the decomposition of organisms that live in soil enabled the discovery of streptomycin and several other antibiotics. A professor of biochemistry and microbiology at Rutgers University for four decades, he discovered several antibiotics, and he introduced procedures that have led to the development of many others. The proceeds earned from the licensing of his patents funded a foundation for microbiological research, which established the Waksman Institute of Microbiology located at the Rutgers University Busch Campus in Piscataway, New Jersey (USA). In 1952, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for "ingenious, systematic, and successful studies of the soil microbes that led to the discovery of streptomycin." Waksman and his foundation later were sued by Albert Schatz, one of his Ph.D. students and the discoverer of streptomycin, for minimizing Schatz's role in the discovery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daniel Nathans</span> American microbiologist

Daniel Nathans was an American microbiologist. He shared the 1978 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of restriction enzymes and their application in restriction mapping.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Werner Arber</span> Swiss microbiologist and geneticist (born 1929)

Werner Arber is a Swiss microbiologist and geneticist. Along with American researchers Hamilton Smith and Daniel Nathans, Werner Arber shared the 1978 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of restriction endonucleases. Their work would lead to the development of recombinant DNA technology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Linda B. Buck</span> American biologist

Linda Brown Buck is an American biologist best known for her work on the olfactory system. She was awarded the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, along with Richard Axel, for their work on olfactory receptors. She is currently on the faculty of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph L. Goldstein</span> American biochemist

Joseph Leonard Goldstein ForMemRS is an American biochemist. He received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1985, along with fellow University of Texas Southwestern researcher, Michael Brown, for their studies regarding cholesterol. They discovered that human cells have low-density lipoprotein (LDL) receptors that remove cholesterol from the blood and that when LDL receptors are not present in sufficient numbers, individuals develop hypercholesterolemia and become at risk for cholesterol related diseases, notably coronary heart disease. Their studies led to the development of statin drugs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edmond H. Fischer</span> American-Swiss biochemist (1920–2021)

Edmond Henri Fischer was a Swiss-American biochemist. He and his collaborator Edwin G. Krebs were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1992 for describing how reversible phosphorylation works as a switch to activate proteins and regulate various cellular processes. From 2007 until 2014, he was the Honorary President of the World Cultural Council. At the time of his death at age 101 in 2021, he was the oldest living Nobel Prize laureate.

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The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (JHUSOM) is the medical school of Johns Hopkins University, a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1893, the School of Medicine shares a campus with Johns Hopkins Hospital and Johns Hopkins Children's Center, established in 1889.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack W. Szostak</span> American biologist

Jack William Szostak is a Canadian American biologist of Polish British descent, Nobel Prize laureate, university professor at the University of Chicago, former professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School, and Alexander Rich Distinguished Investigator at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston. Szostak has made significant contributions to the field of genetics. His achievement helped scientists to map the location of genes in mammals and to develop techniques for manipulating genes. His research findings in this area are also instrumental to the Human Genome Project. He was awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, along with Elizabeth Blackburn and Carol W. Greider, for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nobel Prize in Chemistry</span> Award established in 1895 by Alfred Nobel

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This is a timeline of women in science in the United States.

References

  1. ↑ Lane, Nick (6 March 2015). "The Unseen World: Reflections on Leeuwenhoek (1677) 'Concerning Little Animal'." Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2015 Apr; 370 (1666): 20140344. [doi:10.1098/rstb.2014.0344]
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Pommerville, Jeffery C. (2014). Fundamentals Of Microbiology. Burlington, Massachusetts: Jones and Bartlett Learning. ISBN   9781449688615.
  3. ↑ dictionary of medical eponyms: Whonamedit - dictionary of medical eponyms, accessdate: September 9, 2015
  4. ↑ "Ignaz Semmelweis (1818-65)". London, UK: Science Museum, London-Brought To Life, Exploring the History of Medicine. Retrieved 2015-09-07.
  5. ↑ "Joseph Lister (1827-1912)". London: Science Museum, London-Brought To Life, Exploring the History of Medicine. Retrieved 2015-09-07.
  6. ↑ Walter and Fanny Hesse: Walter and Fanny Hesse, accessdate: September 9, 2015
  7. ↑ A. F. Trofa, H. Ueno-Olsen, R. Oiwa, M. Yoshikawa: Dr. Kiyoshi Shiga: Discoverer of the Dysentery Bacillus. In: Clinical Infectious Diseases. 29, 1999, S. 1303, doi : 10.1086/313437.
  8. ↑ "The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1901". Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 2015-09-07.
  9. ↑ "The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1902". Nobelprize.org. 2014. Retrieved 2015-09-07.
  10. ↑ "The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1905". Nobelprize.org. 2014. Retrieved 2015-09-07.
  11. ↑ "The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1907". Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 2015-09-07.
  12. ↑ "The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1927". Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 2015-09-07.
  13. ↑ "The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1928". Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 2015-09-07.
  14. ↑ "The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1939". Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 2015-09-07.
  15. ↑ "The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1945". Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 2015-09-07.
  16. ↑ "The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1951". Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 2015-09-07.
  17. ↑ "The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1952". Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 2015-09-07.
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