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| Activities in Berlin, Germany |
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Now a well-known name in the field of science thanks to his work in Wollstein, Robert Koch was appointed to the Imperial Health Office in Berlin in 1880. One year later, he published the results of his enhanced methods of bacteriological examination under the title “On the Examination of Pathogenic Microorganisms“ in the “Communications of the Imperial Health Office”. This treatise became the handbook of bacteriology. Koch describes exactly both the transmission of pathogenic substances to experimental animals, and the production of culture media and pure cultures. His experiments on disinfection in the same year were of particular importance for practical hygiene: Koch proved that phenol was a less effective disinfectant than a stream of water vapor.
After returning from a congress in London in August 1881, Koch commenced his fundamental work on tuberculosis which culminated in the discovery of the long-sought pathogen. On March 24, 1882 Koch reported to the Berlin Physiological Society: he described the discovery of the pathogen under the microscope – a small, immobile rod which becomes visible in tuberculous tissue by the use of alkaline methylene blue staining. With a pure culture of tubercle bacilli and animal experiments, he proved that the bacilli were indeed the cause of this disease. In 1885 Koch was appointed to the post of Professor at the University of Berlin and Director of the newly founded Hygiene Institute.
| The Starting Point of Today’s Robert Koch Institute |
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Despite his teaching activities, he devoted his attention to the search for a cure for tuberculosis. Unfortunately, he was not to achieve this ambitious goal – an accomplishment that would have been the culmination of his career as a scientist. However, with the tuberculin he produced – even if it was only effective for the detection of infection – he opened up the whole new field of immunity research.
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| Photo of M. tuberculosis taken with the electron microscope. |
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In 1891 Robert Koch was appointed Director of the newly founded Institute for Infectious Diseases, today’s Robert Koch Institute. This institute remained Koch’s center of activity during the rest of his career as a research scientist, even though he embarked on several expeditions to help resolve tropical epidemics in humans and animals. Robert Koch retired in 1904. In December 1905 he received the Nobel Prize for Medicine, particularly for his pioneering achievements in the field of tuberculosis research.
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| Photomicrograph of tubercle bacilli in the sputum of a patient with tuberculosis, Staining: Ziehl-Neelsen. |
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Many honors were conferred upon Robert Koch. On the initiative of J. Schwalbes, the publisher of the German medical journal Deutsche Medizinische Wochenschrift, the “Robert Koch Foundation for the Fight Against Tuberculosis” (in German) was set up on March 24, 1907, the 25th anniversary of the discovery of the tubercle bacillus. To promote research work centered on combating infectious diseases and cancer, this foundation awards both the Robert Koch Medal and the Robert Koch Prize.
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