Word: pasteur
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...oldest and most feared scourges. It was known in ancient Mesopotamia, where a fine of 40 shekels of silver was levied against the owner of any dog whose bite caused a freeman's death (the rate for slaves was 15 shekels). Even today, a century after Pasteur developed the first vaccine, rabies almost always kills its victims unless they are inoculated in the earliest stages of the disease. There were no reported human deaths from rabies in the U.S. last year, thanks to prompt vaccination. But the Federal Center for Disease Control in Atlanta counted 6,405 animal cases...
...native of Norway, Bjorn-Larsen is a born tinkerer. While doing graduate work in bacteriology and biochemistry at Berkeley and U.S.C., he relished playing Louis Pasteur with his potions and Petri dishes. But, for financial reasons, he never finished his doctorate and eventually became an insurance broker. On the evening of April 27, 1963, Bjorn-Larsen was in bed with an aching back when he began thinking about his wife's pet peeve: girdle garters that put holes in her stockings and made them run. Recalls Bjorn-Larsen: "I knew there had to be a better way to attach...
After all, popularizing established scientific consensus hardly promotes progress. It took Pasteur decades to convince the world that life did not originate from spontaneous generation. The contrary consensus prevented serious consideration of his arguments. As a result, progress in bacteriology was delayed...