Chemist and microbiologist, born in Dôle, France. He studied at Besançon and Paris universities, and held academic posts at Strasbourg, Lille, and Paris, where in 1867 he became professor of chemistry at the Sorbonne. He established that putrefaction and fermentation were caused by micro-organisms, thus providing an impetus to microbiology. In a famous experiment in 1881, he showed that sheep and cows "vaccinated" with the attenuated bacilli of anthrax received protection against the disease. In 1888 the Institut Pasteur was founded at Paris for the treatment of rabies, and he worked there until his death.