Robert
Koch was born in Klausthal-Zellerfield, Germany on
December 11, 1843. He studied at the University of Guttingen. After
graduation be worked at Hamburg General Hospital before beginning a
private practice. Later in his career he was appointed as an advisor
to the Imperial Department of Health in Berlin, Germany.
In 1870 Koch demonstrated that Bacillus anthrax spores cause the infection in mice. He was the first to isolate the bacteria that cause disease. In addition to his work with anthrax, he also studied tuberculosis. He isolate the bacillus that causes tuberculosis in 1881.During the remainder of his career, Koch studied tuberculosis and cholera. He found that cholera was transmitted from one person to another through contaminated water. Late in his career he also studied diseases caused by insect vectors. For his contributions to the germ theory of disease, Koch is often thought of as being the "father of bacteriology".
For his work, Koch was awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine in 1905. He died at Baden-Baden, Germany on May 27, 1910.
References
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