Proof of Germ Theory
So far, all of the advancements discussed were technologies related to industry. Perhaps the development that benefited humanity the most was not a technology at all, but the acceptance of a concept. The acceptance of germ theory changed the way medical professionals view disease and ushered in the modern era of curative medicine. Although numerous philosophers and physicians from the ancient and the medieval periods speculated that “seeds” could travel from one person to another, spreading epidemic disease, such concepts were not widely accepted.
Instead, most theories of disease transmission centered on the “miasma” theory which claimed that corrupted or polluted air coming from unhygienic conditions, rotten food or spoiled water spontaneously created diseases and were even responsible for creating animals, like fleas and maggots. Other popular theories incorporated supernatural ideas for the origin epidemics.
Slowly, over time, these ideas were challenged by physicians and scientists who developed rigorous experiments and gained access to increasingly stronger microscopes. But the miasmic theory of medicine was hard to displace, even the after microorganisms were directly observed my medical pioneers such as Athanasius Kircher in the 1650s and Anton van Leeuwenhoek in the 1670s. By the beginning of the 1800s, evidence that microscopic organisms could cause disease gained strength. In 1808, Agostino Bassi proved that a fungus caused disease in silkworms.
Work continued until Louis Pasteur conclusively disproved that organisms spontaneously developed when he devised a way to permanently sterilize broth. After boiling the broth, he prevented it from being exposed to the atmosphere. When the broth did not spoil, his simple yet powerful experiment led to a medical revolution. To this day, we use Pasteur’s methods to sterilize the food we eat, making it much safer to enjoy a variety of products.
From Pasteur’s achievements, many others introduced methods to sterilize medical equipment and developed modern hygienic practices that made the world safer, cleaner and far less lethal. Few achievements, if any, saved more lives than this, the greatest realization of the 19th Century.