Louis Pasteur Autographs, Memorabilia & Collectibles

Louis Pasteur (1822-1895) was a chemist and biologist who is considered one of a handful of the most important pioneers of microbiology. His body of work directly led to the development of vaccinations to protect humans from deadly diseases, the invalidation of the spontaneous generation theory of life, and the invention of pasteurization. Germ theory was already rapidly growing support, but Pasteur conducted controlled experiments from 1860-1864 that investigated germs, disease, and potential causality. These experiments put to rest any further serious opposition to the theory. While Pasteur's influence on microbiology and chemistry stretch far into the sciences, his notoriety today is primarily due to the namesake process of pasteurization used on virtually all dairy products sold in stores. Cultivators immediately began to heat the starting sugar solutions to high temperatures to kill the unwanted bacteria before fermenting the beverage. Pasteur's way of thinking about diseases helped him to develop treatment for maladies such as rabies and anthrax that were, until then, thought incurable.