Robert Koch – Biography of Robert Koch

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The Nobel Prize-winning German scientist, Heinrich Hermann Robert Koch, was born on December 11, 1843 in Clausthal, a small town in the then Kingdom of Hannover (now Germany).

Since he was little he had a passion for nature, especially for animals. Son of a miner, Robert He spent a quiet childhood, showing already as a child, a propensity to study.
After finishing school, he enrolled at the University of Göttingen to study medicine. There, too, he turned out to be a model student, taking an interest in “Microbiology” with the expert guidance of Professor Henle. Under his tutelage he learned that infectious diseases can be caused by living organisms, bacteria, and he learned to use the microscope. After obtaining his degree, he moved to Berlin to study chemistry and later completed an internship at the Hamburg General Hospital.

Koch He began to practice his activity as a private physician after 1866, but soon realized that he was powerless against epidemic diseases, which at that time had many victims, and decided to start studying the germs responsible for these diseases.

His first studies focused on the anthrax bacillus, since being in Wollenstein, he witnessed an epidemic that devastated hundreds of head of cattle. In his little lab, Robert Koch did several experiments to show that the anthrax bacillus caused the disease that infected cattle, and that these bacteria were capable of reproducing even without direct contact with the animal.

Koch he was also able to show that bacilli can survive even under adverse conditions, producing spores that would then produce new bacteria. For the scientific environment, the discovery of Koch It was really a revelation, since the German doctor did not have a laboratory equipped for this type of experiment. Thanks to his intuitions, other scholars and researchers were able to delve into the subject.

Robert Koch He is best remembered for the discovery of the bacteria responsible for tuberculosis (also called “Koch’s bacillus”). He also identified the substance that acts as a remedy for the disease, called “tuberculinFollowing this discovery, in 1891 he opened the Robert Koch Institute.

In 1884 he dedicated himself to the study of vibrio cholera, another disease that at that time was also highly contagious and deadly. The German physician’s findings in the field of epidemiology paved the way for official recognition, which would take place in 1905, with the awarding of the Nobel Prize in Medicine.

Koch he also carried out some missions in South Africa and Rhodesia to carry out experiments on some diseases that affect livestock, and he also did a lot of work on malaria, adding new and valuable information about this disease.

In early 1910, Robert Koch fell ill and died on May 27, 1910 of a heart attack.