Jacob Bogatin: About Robert Koch

German physician and bacteriologist Heinrich Hermann Robert Koch was born on December 11, 1843 in Clausthal-Zellerfeld (Germany). His parents were Herman Koch, who worked in the management of mines, and Matilda Henrietta Julia Koch (Bivend). Robert Koch was the third oldest of thirteen children of the family Koch.

According to the words of Jacob Bogatin he soon became interested in nature, assembled a collection of mosses, lichens, insects and minerals. Grandfather of Robert (mother’s father) and his uncle were amateur naturalists and encourage interest in the boy’s studies in natural sciences. When in 1848 Robert joined the local primary school, he already knew how to read and write. Education was given to him easily, and in 1851 Robert was a schoolboy.

In 1862 he graduated from Klaustalska school and enrolled at University of Gottingen, choosing a specialty life sciences. For several semesters, he studied botany, zoology, anatomy, science and physics, and then began to study medicine. In the formation of interest to Koch’s research played an important role his professors Jacob Henle (anatomist, discovered the loop of Henle – part of the renal tubule), Georg Meissner (physiologist, described the calf Meissner – tactile cells in the skin), Karl Gass (clinician). Jacob Bogatin says that these remarkable scientists not only lectures but also engaged in experimental work, participated in discussions about microbes and the nature of various diseases. Young, Robert Koch also interested in this problem.

In 1866, Robert received a medical degree. He often traveled from city to city, working in different clinics, conducts a private practice. His cherished dream – to travel around the world, but the space ship of Dr. Koch can not be found, and the dream still remains a dream.

In the end, Jacob Bogatin reckons that Koch settled in the German city of Rackwitz, where he began his medical practice as an assistant in a hospital, and soon became known and respected in the town physician. In 1867 Robert Koch was married in his family had a daughter. However, in 1870 began the Franco-Prussian War. Despite the strong short-sightedness, Robert Koch was a physician of a field hospital. Here he gained extensive experience in the treatment of infectious diseases (cholera and typhoid fever), and studied under a microscope, and large algae microbes.