Editing Robert Koch (section)

==Early life and education==
Koch was born in [[Klausthal|Clausthal, Germany]], on 11 December 1843, to Hermann Koch (1814–1877) and Mathilde Julie Henriette (née Biewend; 1818–1871).<ref name="The Founders">Metchnikoff, Elie. ''The Founders of Modern Medicine: Pasteur, Koch, Lister.'' Classics of Medicine Library: Delanco, 2006. Print.</ref> His father was a mining engineer. He was the third of thirteen siblings.<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> He excelled academically from an early age. Before entering school in 1848, he had taught himself how to read and write.<ref name=":4" /> He completed secondary education in 1862, having excelled in science and math.<ref name=":13">{{Cite journal|last=Akkermans|first=Rebecca|date=2014|title=Robert Heinrich Herman Koch|url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24717622|journal=The Lancet|volume=2|issue=4|pages=264–265|doi=10.1016/S2213-2600(14)70018-9|pmid=24717622}}</ref>

At the age of 19, in 1862, Koch entered the [[University of Göttingen]] to study natural science.<ref name="Heinrich Hermann Robert Koch">"Heinrich Hermann Robert Koch." ''World of Scientific Discovery.'' Gale, 2006. Biography in Context. Web. 14 April 2013.</ref> He took up mathematics, physics and botany. He was appointed assistant in the university's Pathological Museum.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Ernst|first=H. C.|date=1918|title=Robert Koch (1843-1910)|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25130022|journal=Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences|volume=53|issue=10|pages=825–827|jstor=25130022}}</ref> After three semesters, he decided to change his area of study to medicine, as he aspired to be a physician. During his fifth semester at the medical school, [[Jacob Henle]], an anatomist who had published a [[Germ theory of disease|theory of contagion]] in 1840, asked him to participate in his research project on uterine nerve structure. This research won him a research prize from the university and enabled him to briefly study under [[Rudolf Virchow]], who was at the time considered "Germany's most renowned physician".<ref name=":0" /> In his sixth semester, Koch began to research at the Physiological Institute, where he studied the secretion of [[succinic acid]], which is a signalling molecule that is also involved in the [[Citric acid cycle|metabolism of the mitochondria]]. This would eventually form the basis of his dissertation.<ref name="Robert Koch A Life" /> In January 1866, he graduated from the medical school, earning honours of the highest distinction, ''[[Latin honors|maxima cum laude]]''.<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><ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|last=Sakula|first=A.|date=1983|title=Robert koch: centenary of the discovery of the tubercle bacillus, 1882|journal=The Canadian Veterinary Journal|volume=24|issue=4|pages=127–131|pmc=1790283|pmid=17422248}}</ref>

===Anthrax===
Robert Koch is widely known for his work with [[anthrax]], discovering the causative agent of the fatal disease to be ''[[Bacillus anthracis]]''.<ref name="Germ theory of disease">"Germ theory of disease." ''World of Microbiology and Immunology.'' Ed. Brenda Wilmoth Lerner and K. Lee Lerner. Detroit: Gale, 2007. Biography in Context. Web. 14 April 2013.</ref> After officially becoming a district physician in Wollstein (today's Wolsztyn), Poland, in 1872, Robert began to delve into the disease called Anthrax. Near Wollstein, anthrax disease was regularly taking the lives of humans and livestock without evidence explaining why. Eventually, in 1876, Koch was able to make an incredible discovery that anthrax was triggered by one singular pathogen. Koch's discovery of the dormant stage, the anthrax spores, allowed him to successfully unravel the mystery behind the anthrax disease. By gaining a better understanding of this pathogen, he was able to shed light on the bacterium's remarkable resistance to environmental factors ("Robert Koch – Nobel Lecture" 2018). This groundbreaking achievement marked Koch as the pioneer scientist to discover that a microscopic organism was causing a disease to spread. His findings were especially impressive as they were done in a poorly equipped laboratory in Wollstein.

He published the discovery in a booklet as "''Die Ätiologie der Milzbrand-Krankheit, Begründet auf die Entwicklungsgeschichte des Bacillus Anthracis''" (''The Etiology of Anthrax Disease, Based on the Developmental History of Bacillus Anthracis'') in 1876 while working at in Wöllstein.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Koch |first=Robert |date=2010 |others=Robert Koch-Institut |title=Die Ätiologie der Milzbrand-Krankheit, begründet auf die Entwicklungsgeschichte des Bacillus Anthracis |url=https://edoc.rki.de/handle/176904/5139 |journal=Cohns Beiträge zur Biologie der Pflanzen |language=de |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=277 (1–22) |doi=10.25646/5064 |orig-year=1876}}</ref> His publication in 1877 on the structure of anthrax bacterium<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Koch |first=Robert |date=2010 |title=Verfahren zur Untersuchung, zum Konservieren und Photographieren der Bakterien |url=https://edoc.rki.de/handle/176904/5140 |journal=Beiträge zur Biologie der Pflanzen |language=de |volume=2 |pages=399–434 |doi=10.25646/5065 |via=Robert Koch-Institut |orig-year=1877}}</ref> marked the first photography of a bacterium.<ref name=":0" /> He discovered the formation of [[bacterial spore|spores]] in anthrax bacteria, which could remain dormant under specific conditions.<ref name="Heinrich Hermann Robert Koch" /> However, under optimal conditions, the spores were activated and caused disease.<ref name="Heinrich Hermann Robert Koch" /> To determine this causative agent, he dry-fixed bacterial cultures onto glass slides, used dyes to stain the cultures, and observed them through a microscope.<ref name="Robert Koch">"Robert Koch." ''World of Microbiology and Immunology.'' Ed. Brenda Wilmoth Lerner and K. Lee Lerner. Detroit: Gale, 2006. Biography in Context. Web. 14 April 2013.</ref> His work with anthrax is notable in that he was the first to link a specific microorganism with a specific disease, rejecting the idea of [[spontaneous generation]] and supporting the [[germ theory of disease]].<ref name="Germ theory of disease" /> 
[[File:Cycle of infection in anthrax.jpg|thumb|'''The Anthrax Disease Cycle.''' Anthrax particles live in a vegetative state until exposed to oxygen, where they form many infectious spores. They can live in the soil and be consumed by herbivores. Large herbivores, like cows, are most susceptible to anthrax disease, and humans are affected by animal waste, fecal or corpses, by these herbivores. Anthrax infection is spread to humans when spores gain entry into the body, whether that is from inhalation, open wounds, or another method of entrance. Once inside, the spores are activated, allowing the bacteria to multiply and spread their toxins. Another spread of infection is through biting flies, like mosquitoes, that come in contact with the blood and feces of herbivores, preceded by contact with human flesh (information from Bergman ''et al.'', 2006).]]