Microbiology
Field · 1670s onward; germ theory from the 1860s · Biology, stage 2: Map the fields
Microbiology studies organisms too small to see: bacteria, archaea, most fungi and algae, and, by convention, viruses. Its decisive nineteenth-century result was that fermentation and disease are caused by specific living organisms rather than arising spontaneously from matter, which Pasteur established with sealed-flask experiments. Because microbes reproduce quickly and can be grown in enormous numbers, they later became the standard material for testing claims in genetics and molecular biology.
What it claims
- Life does not arise spontaneously from non-living matter under ordinary conditions.
- Specific microorganisms cause specific fermentations and specific diseases.
- Microbial populations evolve on timescales short enough to observe directly in a laboratory.
Key ideas
People
Sources
- Microbiology Wikipedia
- Germ theory of disease Wikipedia
- Louis Pasteur Institut Pasteur
