pasteur, louis

1. French chemist who founded modern microbiology. His early work with fermentation led him to invent the process of pasteurization. Pasteur established that microorganisms cause communicable diseases and infections.

A French scientist of the nineteenth century whose work was very important in proving that many diseases are caused by microorganisms. He developed pasteurization, in which fluids, such as milk, are heated for a specific period of time to kill harmful bacteria.