Microbe Hunters – Figures from the Heroic Age of Medicine

This pop-science volume is Paul de Kruif’s classic account of microscopic discoveries, and it presents a history of the most important figures in medicine.

Microbe Hunters is separated into 14 stories of pioneering scientists, including Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (1632​​–1723) and Louis Pasteur (1822​​–1895). The dramatised records of important scientific figures and the history of medicine are written in simple, accessible language. Becoming an international bestseller, the volume was translated into 18 languages and adapted for the stage and screen.

This volume features the following chapters:

– ‘Leeuwenhoek: First of the Microbe Hunters’

– ‘Spallanzani: Microbes Must Have Parents!’

– ‘Pasteur: Microbes Are a Menace!’

– ‘Koch: The Death Fighter’

– ‘Pasteur: And the Mad Dog’

– ‘Roux and Behring: Massacre the Guinea-Pigs’

– ‘Metchnikoff: The Nice Phagocytes’

– ‘Theobald Smith: Ticks and Texas Fever’

First published in 1926, Microbe Hunters remains one of the most encompassing classic accounts of microbiology history and is not to be missed by those who wish to extend their scientific knowledge.