Friday, May 28, 2010

Robert Koch

Centennial Death Ceremony of the great scientist, Robert Koch was observed on 27th May, 2010.

In this connection, Sri Venkateswara Institute of Medical Sciences (SVIMS), Tirupati conducted a memorial meeting to pay tributes to his great scientist and biologist, the man who is now the partly forgotten captain of an obscure heroic age (as mentioned by Paul deKruif, Microbe Hunters).

The programme started around 11 AM. Dr. B.Vengamma, DM (Neuro), Director, SVIMS unveiled the photograph of Robert Koch.

(A replica of the photograph of Robert Koch, in thinking posture is presented here)



Candles were lit and 2-minute silence was observed by all. After the introductory remarks by Dr. Gururaj Kumar, Professor and Head, Department of Microbiology, SVIMS, the Memorial Speech for the day was given by Dr. Vengamma.

Later Dr. Abhijit Chowdhary, Additional Professor of Microiology, SVIMS, spoke on "Koch, Cholera and Calcutta". He vividly gone through the events that led to the discovery of cholera bacillus or the 'comma' bacillus.

Dr. Usha Kalawat, Assistant Professor of Microbiology, SVIMS, spoke on the "Contributions of Robert Koch" and mentioned how amazingly Koch pioneered and standardized several bacteriological techniques being used today.

Dr. K.K.Sharma, Assistant Professor of Microbiology, SVIMS discussed the "Influence of Koch on Pasteur".


Finally, Dr. Alladi Mohan, Professor of Medicine, SVIMS, author of the book "Tuberculosis" and several resesarch papers, described the scientific ardour, meticulousness and hard work of Robert Koch in identifying the tuberculous bacillus and several other infectious agents as well as the inspiration Koch generated in his desciples.


During the programme, there was a slide show on Robert Koch, created by Surender, a PhD scholor, SVIMS.


The programme ended with the concluding remarks of Dr Gururaj Kumar.