Louis Pasteur

Although Louis Pasteur was born in Dole, his true home in the Comté was the town of Arbois. After his parents moved there in 1827, he spent his youth there, his parents died there, and to the end of his days Pasteur never failed to spend his holidays in Arbois. When the Pasteur family moved to Arbois, they settled in a tannery which the scientist later turned into a large comfortable residence. The father did all types of leather work; the mother ran the household, raised the children, and kept the accounts. The close family life in which a high moral code was adhered to marked the young Louis for life.

He attended primary school, then secondary school (where the sundial he made is still in the school yard). He was a conscientious, serious worker, who devoted so much careful thought to things that he gave the impression of being rather slow, and he was never considered more than a slightly above average student. His greatest interest was drawing. He drew portraits in pastels and pencil of his parents and friends, in which a certain talent is apparent. To be able to study for his baccalaureate, the young man entered the grammar school of Besançon as a teaching assistant.

With his admission to the Ecole Normale in 1843, Pasteur embarked on the career which was to distinguish him as one of the greatest minds in the history of mankind. He began with the study of pure science, where his studies of the geometry of crystals soon attracted attention. He then turned to practical problems. His study of various types of fermentation led him to discover the "pasteurization" process by which wine. beer and vinegar could be prevented from going off his work on the illnesses of silkworms were invaluable to the silk industry. He produced vaccines to cure rabies in man and anthrax in animals. He put forward theories in the held of microbiology which were to revolutionize surgery and medicine in general, leading to the use of antiseptic sterilization, and isolation of those with contagious diseases. Pasteur also paved the way for immunization therapy (using antiserums).

The house where Pasteur spent his youth [in Arbois] has been preserved in such a way that visitors might almost think the great scientist was still in residence. The penholder stands ready on the desk: the inkwell and blotting pad are in their usual place; the cap might have been taken off just a few seconds ago. Photographs recall the faces of those Pasteur loved. The instruments and apparatus used by the illustrious scientist during his stays in Arbois are on display in the laboratory. Even the culture mediums, which he used for his experiments on spontaneous generation have been preserved.

Excepted from Burgundy-Jura (Michelin^® Green Guide) 1995.