MCB6937 Bacterial Physiology Exam 1 Questions and Answers Latest Update 2025
1. Robert Hooke: - Answers a. Mathematician and natural historian
b. Curator for Royal Society of London
c. Used the term "cells", but has not seen a single celled organism
d. Micrographia 1665 (royal Society): fruiting structures of molds
e. First description of microorganisms -(he drew a picture of what he saw as a microorganism, looked
like a bug. Should know the picture)
2. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek: - Answers a. Born in the Netherlands in the 1600s
b. He created microscopes that magnified up top 500 times
c. Often made a new microscope for each specimen
d. He examined water and visualized tiny animals, fungi, algae, and single celled protozoa; know as
"animalcules"
e. Died from a disease, likely bacterial (sheep bacteria)
What is the golden age of microbiology? - Answers • The time period (1870-1902) where scientist
searched for answers to four questions
1. Is spontaneous generation of microbial life possible?
2. What causes fermentation?
3. What causes disease?
4. How can we prevent infection and disease?
• Many agents of diseases where discoved in this time period.
What is spontaneous generation? - Answers • The belief proposed by Aristotle, that living things can
arise from nonliving matter.
• This was later proven wrong by Redi's Experiment, where maggots did not spontaneously arise from
decaying meat.
• Not all scientist believed animals can arise spontaneously, but did believe Microbes can. Needham's
experiment with boiling beef gravy and infusions of plant materials reinforced this idea.
• Spallanzani's experiment however concluded that Needham failed to heat the water enough to kill all
the microbes or had not sealed the vials sufficiently. Microorganisms live in the air and can contaminate
experiments. Spallanzani concluded that sponanteous generation does not exist.
, Who are the founders of bacteriology? - Answers Ferdinand Cohn, Robert Koch, and Louis Pasteur
1. Ferdinand Cohn: - Answers a. German-polish microbiologist
b. Established the use of sterile culture media
c. The first scientist to show that Bacillus can change from a vegetative state to an endospore state
(lifecycle of microorganisms)
d. Created a new system to classify bacteria
2. Robert Koch: - Answers a. German physician
b. Known as the founder of modern bacteriology.
c. Studied causative agents of diseas with anthrax, cholera, and TB (tuberculosis)
d. Isolated and grew anthrax-and discovered it can be transmitted to other cattle
e. Invented methods of selectively growing organisms in pure cultures- pick a colony
f. Created the Koch postulates; which now must be used before we can agree that a particular bacteria
cause a particular disease
i. Step 1- isolate microorganism from dead animal
ii. Step 2- microogranisms are grown in pure cultures and identified
iii. Step3- microorganisms are injected to a healthy animal
iv. Step 4&5- the disease is reproduced in the second animal, microoganisms are then isolated from that
animal and grown in pure cultues and identified. (some people want to add another step in which after
it is isolated and identified, a vaccine can be created for the disease)
3. Louis Pasteur: - Answers a. Worked on issues faced by French wine makers (fermentation to acetic
acid instead of alcohol by bacteria-contaminated yeast cultures)
b. His research challenged 'spontaneous generation' claims
c. Created Germ theory, and vaccination (chicken cholera)
d. Known as the father of microbiology
What is a germ theory? - Answers Bacterium causes disease
• Created by Louis Pasteur
• Koch provided proof to germ theory by using his Koch postulates to prove that bacterium causes
anthra
1. Robert Hooke: - Answers a. Mathematician and natural historian
b. Curator for Royal Society of London
c. Used the term "cells", but has not seen a single celled organism
d. Micrographia 1665 (royal Society): fruiting structures of molds
e. First description of microorganisms -(he drew a picture of what he saw as a microorganism, looked
like a bug. Should know the picture)
2. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek: - Answers a. Born in the Netherlands in the 1600s
b. He created microscopes that magnified up top 500 times
c. Often made a new microscope for each specimen
d. He examined water and visualized tiny animals, fungi, algae, and single celled protozoa; know as
"animalcules"
e. Died from a disease, likely bacterial (sheep bacteria)
What is the golden age of microbiology? - Answers • The time period (1870-1902) where scientist
searched for answers to four questions
1. Is spontaneous generation of microbial life possible?
2. What causes fermentation?
3. What causes disease?
4. How can we prevent infection and disease?
• Many agents of diseases where discoved in this time period.
What is spontaneous generation? - Answers • The belief proposed by Aristotle, that living things can
arise from nonliving matter.
• This was later proven wrong by Redi's Experiment, where maggots did not spontaneously arise from
decaying meat.
• Not all scientist believed animals can arise spontaneously, but did believe Microbes can. Needham's
experiment with boiling beef gravy and infusions of plant materials reinforced this idea.
• Spallanzani's experiment however concluded that Needham failed to heat the water enough to kill all
the microbes or had not sealed the vials sufficiently. Microorganisms live in the air and can contaminate
experiments. Spallanzani concluded that sponanteous generation does not exist.
, Who are the founders of bacteriology? - Answers Ferdinand Cohn, Robert Koch, and Louis Pasteur
1. Ferdinand Cohn: - Answers a. German-polish microbiologist
b. Established the use of sterile culture media
c. The first scientist to show that Bacillus can change from a vegetative state to an endospore state
(lifecycle of microorganisms)
d. Created a new system to classify bacteria
2. Robert Koch: - Answers a. German physician
b. Known as the founder of modern bacteriology.
c. Studied causative agents of diseas with anthrax, cholera, and TB (tuberculosis)
d. Isolated and grew anthrax-and discovered it can be transmitted to other cattle
e. Invented methods of selectively growing organisms in pure cultures- pick a colony
f. Created the Koch postulates; which now must be used before we can agree that a particular bacteria
cause a particular disease
i. Step 1- isolate microorganism from dead animal
ii. Step 2- microogranisms are grown in pure cultures and identified
iii. Step3- microorganisms are injected to a healthy animal
iv. Step 4&5- the disease is reproduced in the second animal, microoganisms are then isolated from that
animal and grown in pure cultues and identified. (some people want to add another step in which after
it is isolated and identified, a vaccine can be created for the disease)
3. Louis Pasteur: - Answers a. Worked on issues faced by French wine makers (fermentation to acetic
acid instead of alcohol by bacteria-contaminated yeast cultures)
b. His research challenged 'spontaneous generation' claims
c. Created Germ theory, and vaccination (chicken cholera)
d. Known as the father of microbiology
What is a germ theory? - Answers Bacterium causes disease
• Created by Louis Pasteur
• Koch provided proof to germ theory by using his Koch postulates to prove that bacterium causes
anthra
