Discovery of Microorganisms

Before 1675, it was a mystery as to why grapes could be turned into wine, milk could some way turn into cheese, or why food would go bad. People also didn't understand many illnesses such as the Black Plague, or food borne illnesses. All this changed thanks to the discovery of microorganisms by Antoni Van Leeuwenhoek in 1675. He was one of the first people to ever see microorganisms with a microscope he designed himself. He observed and described microscopic protozoa and bacteria. Robert Hooke was one of the first people to see a living organisms in 1665 and gave descriptions of plant cells in his book Micrographia. Thanks to these men, we have a better knowledge of the roles of microbes and how they help cause infectious diseases.

Antoni Van Leeuwenhoek

http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blleeuwenhoek.htm

 Microscope invented by Leeuwenhoek

http://www.ihcworld.com/histowiki/doku.php?id=microscope

Pictures of Robert Hooke and a page from his book Micrographia

http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/2001/05/43330

Leeuwenhoek's discovery, along with the help from Lazzaro Spallanzani and Louis Pasteur, made people realize that food didn't spoil because a non-living substance randomly appeared and made the food go bad. Spallanzani discovered that if you boil broth, you kill any microorganisms in it. And that new microorganisms could only live in a broth if exposed to the air. Pasteur furthered this discovery when he found that by boiling the broth not only did you kill all of the microorganisms, but he learned that the broth would only go bad if exposed to outside things such as spores on dust. There fore, Pastuer stamped out the theory of spontaneous generation and began to support the "germ theory".

http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/S/Spallanzani.html

Louis Pasteur
http://www.cah-research.com/history/asynopsis.htm

In 1876, Robert Koch discovered that microbes can cause disease and can can also be transmitted from one organism to another. Now we know that Bacteria multiply by splitting in half every 15-30 mins. The best conditions for growth are in high moisture, in low acidic foods, have air, have time, and be in a Temperature Danger Zone which is 41'F- 140'F. Which all of this we know how Safety and Sanitation guidelines to follow when working with food. Many lives have been saved from such discoveries. We know we have a time line of 4hrs to get food out of the temperature danger zone and also many methods and processes we have to take to keep bacteria from spreading and becoming too dangerous to eat. So, before you take your next bite of food, you can thank all of these men for making it safer for you to consume.

  Robert Koch

http://www.scientific-web.com/en/Medicine/Biographies/RobertKoch01.html

sources were 

http://books.google.com/books?id=km-e12R_wbUC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Micrographia+ibsn&source=bl&ots=yNcau2NwB6&sig=GWkrz7gJ9JazLsQVS4FSaC1HCYY&hl=en&ei=4f3ITMWYJ6SQtAOUvr3qDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CBkQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15209075

http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blleeuwenhoek.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microorganisms

Professional Cooking

by Wayne Gisslen

ISBN 0-471-39711-3