Editing Petri dish (section)

== History ==

The Petri dish was developed by German physician [[Julius Richard Petri]] (after whom the name is given) while working as an assistant to [[Robert Koch]] at [[Berlin University]]. Petri did not invent the culture dish himself; rather, it was a modified version of Koch's invention<ref name=":7">{{Cite journal|last=Hufford|first=David C.|date=1988-03-01|title=A Minor Modification by R. J. Petri|url=https://academic.oup.com/labmed/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/labmed/19.3.169|journal=Laboratory Medicine|language=en|volume=19|issue=3|pages=169–170|doi=10.1093/labmed/19.3.169|issn=0007-5027}}</ref> which used an [[agar]] medium that was developed by Walther Hesse.<ref name="kass">{{cite book |last1=Kassinger |first1=Ruth |title=Slime How Algae Created Us, Plague Us, and Just Might Save Us |date=2019 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |location=Boston, New York |page=124}}</ref> Koch had published a precursor dish in a booklet in 1881 titled "{{Lang|de|Zur Untersuchung von Pathogenen Organismen}}" (''Methods for the Study of Pathogenic Organisms''),<ref>{{Cite book|last=Koch|first=Robert|url=https://edoc.rki.de/handle/176904/5146|title=Zur Untersuchung von Pathogenen Organismen| publisher=Robert Koch-Institut|year=2010|location=Berlin|doi=10.25646/5071|orig-year=1881}}</ref> which has been known as the "Bible of Bacteriology".<ref>{{Citation|last1=Booss|first1=John|title=A history of viral infections of the central nervous system|date=2014|url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/B9780444534880000018|series=Handbook of Clinical Neurology|volume=123|pages=3–44|publisher=Elsevier|language=en|doi=10.1016/b978-0-444-53488-0.00001-8|isbn=978-0-444-53488-0|pmid=25015479|access-date=2021-04-15|last2=Tselis|first2=Alex C.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hurt|first=Leslie|date=2003|title=Dr. Robert Koch:: a founding father of biology|url= https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1068607X02001671|journal=Primary Care Update for OB/GYNS|language=en|volume=10|issue=2|pages=73–74|doi=10.1016/S1068-607X(02)00167-1}}</ref> He described a new bacterial culture method that used a glass slide with agar and a container (basically a Petri dish, a circular glass dish of 20 × 5 cm with matching lid) which he called ''{{Lang|de|feuchte Kammer}}'' ("moist chamber"). A bacterial culture was spread on the glass slide, then placed in the moist chamber with a small wet paper. Bacterial growth was easily visible.<ref name=":8">{{Cite journal|last=Shama|first=Gilbert|date=2019|title=The "Petri" Dish: A Case of Simultaneous Invention in Bacteriology|url= https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31030894|journal=Endeavour|volume=43|issue=1–2|pages=11–16|doi=10.1016/j.endeavour.2019.04.001|pmid=31030894|s2cid=139105012}}</ref>

Koch publicly demonstrated his plating method at the Seventh [[International Medical Congress]] in London in August 1881. There, [[Louis Pasteur]] exclaimed, "{{Lang|fr|C'est un grand progrès, Monsieur!}}" ("What a great progress, Sir!")<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last=Sakula|first=A.|date=1982|title=Robert Koch: centenary of the discovery of the tubercle bacillus, 1882|journal=Thorax|volume=37|issue=4|pages=246–251|doi= 10.1136/thx.37.4.246|pmc=459292|pmid=6180494}}</ref> It was using this method that Koch discovered important pathogens of [[tuberculosis]] (''[[Mycobacterium tuberculosis]]''), [[anthrax]] (''[[Bacillus anthracis]]''), and cholera (''[[Vibrio cholerae]]''). For his research on tuberculosis, he was awarded the [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]] in 1905.<ref name="Robert Koch A Life">{{cite book |last1=Brock |first1=Thomas D. |title=Robert Koch: A Life in Medicine and Bacteriology |date=1999 |publisher=American Society of Microbiology |location=Washington, D.C. |doi=10.1128/9781555818272 |isbn=978-1-55581-143-3 |url= https://www.asmscience.org/content/book/10.1128/9781555818272 |language=en}}</ref> His students also made important discoveries. [[Friedrich Loeffler]] discovered the bacteria of [[glanders]] (''[[Burkholderia mallei]]'') in 1882 and [[diphtheria]] (''[[Corynebacterium diphtheriae]]'') in 1884; and [[Georg Theodor August Gaffky]], the bacterium of [[typhoid]] (''[[Salmonella enterica]]'') in 1884.<ref name=":6">{{Cite journal|last=Weiss|first=Robin A.|date= 2005|title=Robert Koch: the grandfather of cloning?|journal=Cell|volume=123|issue=4|pages=539–542|doi=10.1016/j.cell.2005.11.001|pmid=16286000|doi-access=free}}</ref>

Petri made changes in how the circular dish was used. It is often asserted that Petri developed a new culture plate,<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last1=Blevins|first1=Steve M.|last2=Bronze|first2=Michael S.|date=2010|title=Robert Koch and the 'golden age' of bacteriology|journal=International Journal of Infectious Diseases|volume=14|issue=9|pages=e744–751|doi=10.1016/j.ijid.2009.12.003|pmid=20413340|doi-access= free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Zhang|first=Shuguang|date=2004|title=Beyond the Petri dish|url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14755282|journal=Nature Biotechnology|volume=22|issue=2|pages=151–152|doi=10.1038/nbt0204-151|pmid=14755282|s2cid=36391864}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Grzybowski|first1=Andrzej|last2=Pietrzak|first2=Krzysztof|date=2014|title=Robert Koch (1843-1910) and dermatology on his 171st birthday|url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24887990|journal=Clinics in Dermatology|volume=32|issue=3|pages=448–450|doi=10.1016/j.clindermatol.2013.10.005|pmid=24887990}}</ref> but this is incorrect. Instead of using a separate glass slide or plate on which culture media were placed, Petri directly placed media into the glass dish, eliminating unnecessary steps such as transferring the culture media, using the wet paper, and reducing the chance of contamination.<ref name=":7" /> He published the improved method in 1887 as "''{{Lang|de|Eine kleine Modification des Koch’schen Plattenverfahrens}}''" ("A minor modification of the plating technique of Koch").<ref name=Petri/> Although it could have been named "Koch dish",<ref name=":8" /> the final method was given an eponymous name Petri dish.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Mahajan|first=Monika|date=2021|title=Etymologia: Petri Dish|journal=Emerging Infectious Diseases|volume=27|issue=1|pages=261|doi=10.3201/eid2701.ET2701|issn=1080-6040|pmc=7774570}}</ref>