A century and a half ago, three #science contemporaries (a #chemist, a #physician, and a #surgeon) entirely altered our #relationship to #bacteria. ⠀ ⠀ Louis #Pasteur (1822-1895) discovered that bacteria caused changes in our #food (#fermentation) and that they were the invisible force behind #decomposition and decay. His name lives on in the practice of ‘#pasteurization’ today, where food 🥒 and beverages 🥛 are heated to kill off the #microbes within. Around the same time, Robert Koch (1843-1910) proved that the root causes of #ancient and #modern plagues (such as anthrax or tuberculosis) were bacteria. And a surgeon named Joseph #Lister (1827-1912) saw the link between unhygienic surgical practices and infection, and introduced modern antiseptic techniques into hospitals (before Lister, doctors didn’t wash their hands before surgery or use clean scalpels 😧). He was also the namesake for a common #bathroom product you might have heard of—Listerine.⠀ ⠀ These three scientists’ contrib...