A spirit of scientific rigour: Koch's postulates in twentieth-century medicine

Christoph Gradmann

doi:10.1016/j.micinf.2014.08.012

A spirit of scientific rigour: Koch's postulates in twentieth-century medicine

Microbes Infect. 2014 Nov;16(11):885-92. doi: 10.1016/j.micinf.2014.08.012. Epub 2014 Sep 2.

Author

Christoph Gradmann¹

Affiliation

¹ Section for Medical Anthropology and Medical History, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1130 Blindern, 0318 Oslo, Norway. Electronic address: christoph.gradmann@medisin.uio.no.

PMID: 25193030
DOI: 10.1016/j.micinf.2014.08.012

Abstract

This article explores one of a citation classics in medical literature-Koch's postulates. It analyses their creation in the nineteenth century and their popularity in the twentieth century. As a genre of historiography, references to the postulates are anecdotes. In referring to a historical event that never happened, such references serve to remind their audiences of a tradition of experimental medicine that supposedly originated with Robert Koch.

Keywords: Disease causation; Koch's postulates; Medical microbiology.

Publication types

Historical Article
Review

MeSH terms

Biomedical Research / history
Biomedical Research / methods*
Biomedical Research / standards*
History, 19th Century
History, 20th Century
Humans
Microbiology / history
Microbiology / standards*