Pasteur, Louis (1822–95)

Louis pasteur was a polymath French scientist who made many important contributions to modern medicine, including the use of vaccines for anthrax and rabies. He also contributed to the area of stereochemistry, and the term pasteurization carries his name. Pasteur was born the son of a once indentured tanner and showed early promise as a boy, but primarily in art. He took a second degree in science and then a doctorate, with early work involving crystallography. This work resulted in his discoveries concerning asymmetry within biological molecules and the understanding that the structure of the molecules, as well as their composition, help to determine their properties. This was achieved through dividing crystals into their right- and lefthanded states, which were mirror images of each other. ...