Pasteur / [George M. Sternberg].

George Miller Sternberg

Date:: [1896]

Credit: Pasteur / [George M. Sternberg]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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$SO successfully, there must have been associated a kindly disposition, for those who were closely associated with him in his laboratory work were devotedly attached to him. He evidently had the faculty of inspiring others with his enthusiasm for science, and their loyalty to him and to their common mistress was rewarded by the frank acknowl¬ edgment on his part of their share in the work accomplished. So far as I am aware, he never showed any disposition to appropriate for him¬ self credit due to another, whether that other was an associate or pupil in his own laboratory, or one who was prosecuting his investigations elsewhere. The speaker’s i)ersonal acquaintance with Pasteur is limited to a memorable half day spent in his laboratory about ten years ago. Although still disabled to some extent by paralysis, resulting from his < first apoplectic attack, he conducted me through his laboratory and , with the greatest kindness explained to me the methods in use and the i results recently accomplished in the lines of experimental work which ^ at that time occupied the attention of himself and his colleagues. The time at my disposal will permit only a brief review of the life ( and work of this illustrious savant; but this review will show that his I scientific achievements are of the highest order, and that the practical j benefits resulting from his labors have extended to all parts of the civ- « ilized world. He belongs not alone to France, but to science, and it is j eminently fitting that we should pay a tribute to his memory in this f capital city of a country in which his name is so well known and in j which the results of his scientific investigations are so highly appre- ? dated. Louis Pasteur was born at Dole, a small town in the Department of j Jura, France, on the 27th of December, 1822; he died at his home in { Garches, a suburb of Paris, on the 28th of September, 1895. Pasteur’s father had been a soldier in the army of Napoleon, but at , the time of his famous son’s birth was working at his trade as a tanner. . In 1825 the family moved to Arbois, a small town in the same depart- • ment, and here Louis Pasteur attended school at the college communal. . Later he was sent to the college at Besan§on, where he took his degree ? of Bachelier des Lettres. He subsequently entered the l^cole Normale ^ of Paris, and while there devoted himself to his favorite study—chem- - istry. Three years after joining the Bcole Normale he was ai)pointed I assistant professor of physical science. In 1848 he was appointed pro- - lessor of physics at Dijon, and after a few months resigned his posi- ‘ tion for the chair of chemistry in the University of Strasburg. In 1854 1 Pasteur was induced to accept the x)osition of dean of the newly created | Faculty of Sciences at Lille, and in 1857 he returned to Paris as scien- * tific director of the Lcole Normale, where he had gained his first ) scientific laurels. In 1862 Pasteur became a member of the Institute, . and in the same year he was appointed professor of geology, physics, and i chemistry in the Bcole des Beaux Arts. He was elected to the Acad- ^ emy of Sciences, taking the Fauteuil of Littre, in 1881. The same year t$

page 782

Pasteur / [George M. Sternberg].

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