Historian of Science Thomas Levenson — How Humans Discovered Germs
Two centuries passed between humans discovering the existence of germs and realising that these tiny organisms caused infectious diseases. What took so long?
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Show Notes
Today, you are far more likely to die of heart disease, cancer, or accident than you are to die of an illness caused by a germ: but for most of human history, microorganisms were our greatest nemesis. As recently as 1900, pnuemonia, influenza, tuberculosis, and gut infections accounted for half of all deaths in the United States. And yet, humans had known of the existence of germs since the invention of the microscope and the Scientific Revolution in the 17th century - to precious little advantage. Thomas Levenson joins the podcast to tell the epic story of how we finally came to grasp the role of germs as a cause of disease and develop a powerful arsenal to fight them.
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