Sixth Grade
Worksheets
Louis Pasteur
Louis Pasteur grew up in a time when people still couldn't decide whether or not to believe that germs existed. And if germs really did exist, where did they come from? Many people still held to the theory that germs were spontaneously generated, or created from non-living matter.
Pasteur had a chance to work on the problem of germs in one of his early positions as a professor of chemistry at the University of Lille. Part of his university's mission was to help solve problems for industries in the community. The local beer and wine producing industry asked for the university's help when their products began to go sour. Pasteur proved that germs, or bacteria, were causing the problem. He showed that the problem could be solved by heating the liquids.
Later he applied the same solution to the problem of sour milk. The process of heating liquids to kill germs became known as pasteurization.
