Article ID: CBB687036261

Microbes before microbiology: Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg and Berlin’s infusoria (2022)

unapi

Naturalist Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg pioneered research on living and fossil infusoria (including protists and bacteria) since the 1830s by collecting samples from all over the world, thus describing numerous microbes and discussing their effects for the planet and for humankind. This article introduces Ehrenberg as a natural historian of microbes and situates his work in the nineteenth century life sciences with respect to debates about cell theory, evolution, and concepts of disease. I argue that in spite of occurring before these major conceptual innovations of the life sciences, Ehrenberg’s work on the diversity of microbes found in earth or air is more exciting than historiography has made it appear so far, especially in light of today’s ecological microbiology.

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Article Davina Höll; Leonie N. Bossert (2022) Introducing the microbiome: Interdisciplinary perspectives. Endeavour: Review of the Progress of Science (p. 100817). unapi

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https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB687036261/

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Authors & Contributors
Mustafa Haikal
MacKinney, Anne
Felix Lüttger
Mark Harvey
Wale, Matthew
Thomas J. Dunlap
Concepts
Natural history
Biographies
Ecology
Fossils
Paleontology
Microbiology
Time Periods
19th century
20th century
20th century, late
18th century
21st century
20th century, early
Places
Berlin (Germany)
United States
Great Britain
Russia
Northwest Passage
Missouri (U.S.)
Institutions
Berlin Zoological Museum
Harquala Peak Smithsonian Observatory
Anatomical-zootomical Museum in Berlin
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