A Panorama of the Emergence of Modern Microbiology: 1870’s—1950’s [which includes “A Time Line of Some Basic Discoveries in Microbiology/Biochemistry,1928-1955]

Abstract

This SUPPLEMENT amplifies several aspects of the historic development of microbiological research from the 1870's to ca. 1955. During this period, great advances were made in understanding basic characteristics of a large number of physiologically diverse microorganisms that grow and persist under widely different natural conditions. Thousands of species were isolated in pure culture, and deposited in culture collections, making them available for detailed study of their genetic and biochemical processes, as well as their roles in the cyclic transformations of elements on the Earth. The complexity and basic features of microbial ecology were also discovered. Major research contributions of a number of leading microbiologists are reviewed.