We associate the founders of germ theory, Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch, with a dusty, bygone age: gray beards, sepia tones, and antiquated techniques. However, in their own time, both Pasteur and Koch were what we would now call “early adopters,” embracing and advancing the leading edge of available technology in their efforts to identify microbes. Among his many innovations, Pasteur invented anaerobic cultivation and derived a variety of selective culture media. Koch pioneered the use of solid growth media, developed the techniques of pure culture to isolate individual species, and was the first to apply oil-immersion microscopy to respiratory specimens. [Rudolph Virchow, then the revered “Pope of Medicine,” was an old-guard skeptic. When presented with Koch’s oil-immersion discoveries, he scoffed that “What I can not see with my dry lens, I do not need to see” (1).] Though rightfully celebrated for their own scientific genius, both Pasteur and Koch were beneficiaries of recent advances in technology and both propelled their field forward with their own methodological innovations.

中文翻译：

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重新思考肺炎：具有实用价值的范式转变[医学]

我们将细菌理论的创始人路易斯·巴斯德（Louis Pasteur）和罗伯特·科赫（Robert Koch）与一个尘土飞扬的过去时代联系在一起：灰色胡须，棕褐色调和过时的技术。但是，巴斯德和科赫在他们自己的时代都被称为“早期采用者”，他们在鉴定微生物的努力中拥抱并推动了可用技术的前沿。在他的许多创新中，巴斯德发明了厌氧栽培技术，并衍生出了多种选择性培养基。Koch率先使用了固体生长培养基，开发了纯培养技术来分离单个物种，并且是第一个将油浸显微镜应用于呼吸道标本的方法。[鲁道夫·维奇豪（Rudolph Virchow），后来是受人尊敬的“ Pope of Medicine”，是一位守旧的怀疑论者。当看到科赫（Koch）的油浸发现时，他嘲笑“我用干镜无法看到的东西，1）。]尽管巴斯德和科赫都因自己的科学天才而受到应有的赞誉，但他们都是技术新进展的受益者，并且都以自己的方法创新推动了其领域的发展。