{"id":22344,"date":"2025-02-17T09:00:31","date_gmt":"2025-02-17T10:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=22344"},"modified":"2025-02-17T10:25:09","modified_gmt":"2025-02-17T10:25:09","slug":"louis-pasteurs-relentless-hunt-for-germs-floating-in-the-air","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=22344","title":{"rendered":"Louis Pasteur\u2019s Relentless Hunt for Germs Floating in the Air"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n
\n
\n

Louis Pasteur was at his most comfortable when working in his Paris laboratory. It was there that he had some of his greatest scientific triumphs, including experiments that helped confirm germs can cause disease. \u201cEverything gets complicated away from the laboratory,\u201d he once complained to a friend.<\/p>\n

But in 1860, years before he became famous for developing vaccines and heating milk to kill pathogens, Pasteur ventured to the top of a glacier, on a remarkable quest for invisible life.<\/p>\n

He and a guide began at the base of Mont Blanc in the Alps, hiking through dark stands of pines. Behind them, a mule carried baskets of long\u2011necked glass chambers that sloshed with broth. They ascended a steep trail until they reached Mer de Glace, the sea of ice.<\/p>\n

The wind blew briskly over the glacier, and the vale echoed with the sound of frozen boulders crashing down the slopes. Pasteur struggled to make out the path in the glare of sunlight bouncing off the ice.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\n
\n

When the scientist reached an altitude of 2,000 meters, he finally stopped. He removed one of the glass chambers from the mule\u2019s pack and raised it over his head. With his free hand, he grabbed a pair of tongs and used them to snap off the end of the neck. The cold air rushed inside the container.<\/p>\n

The sight of Pasteur holding a globe of broth over his head would have baffled other travelers visiting Mer de Glace that day. If they had asked him what he was doing, his answer might have seemed mad. Pasteur was on a hunt, he later wrote, for \u201cthe floating germs of the air.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\n
<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n

We are having trouble retrieving the article content.<\/p>\n

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and\u00a0log into<\/a>\u00a0your Times account, or\u00a0subscribe<\/a>\u00a0for all of The Times.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.<\/p>\n

Already a subscriber?\u00a0Log in<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Want all of The Times?\u00a0Subscribe<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Louis Pasteur was at his most comfortable when working in his Paris laboratory. It was there that he had some of his greatest scientific triumphs, including experiments that helped confirm germs can cause disease. \u201cEverything gets complicated away from the laboratory,\u201d he once complained to a friend.But in 1860, years before he became famous for developing vaccines and heating milk to kill pathogens, Pasteur ventured to the top of a glacier, on a remarkable quest for invisible life.He and a guide began at the base of Mont Blanc in the Alps, hiking through dark stands of pines. Behind them, a mule carried baskets of long\u2011necked glass chambers that sloshed with broth. They ascended a steep trail until they reached Mer de Glace, the sea of ice.The wind blew briskly over the glacier, and the vale echoed with the sound of frozen boulders crashing down the slopes. Pasteur struggled to make out the path in the glare of sunlight bouncing off the ice.When the scientist reached an altitude of 2,000 meters, he finally stopped. He removed one of the glass chambers from the mule\u2019s pack and raised it over his head. With his free hand, he grabbed a pair of tongs and used them to snap off the end of the neck. The cold air rushed inside the container.The sight of Pasteur holding a globe of broth over his head would have baffled other travelers visiting Mer de Glace that day. If they had asked him what he was doing, his answer might have seemed mad. Pasteur was on a hunt, he later wrote, for \u201cthe floating germs of the air.\u201dWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and\u00a0log into\u00a0your Times account, or\u00a0subscribe\u00a0for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?\u00a0Log in.Want all of The Times?\u00a0Subscribe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22346,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22344"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22344\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22347,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22344\/revisions\/22347"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/22346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}