Google transformed its logo Dec. 10 to honor the life and work of Robert Koch, MD, a Nobel Prize-winning infectious disease physician who discovered the bacteria that causes anthrax, cholera and tuberculosis, according to a Google Doodle blog post.
Google selected Dec. 10 because it marks the same day Dr. Koch was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1905 for his research on infectious disease bacteria.
"[Dr.] Koch understood that sometimes the keys to solving big problems lay in their microcosms. He dedicated his life to studying germs — some of the tiniest of living organisms on Earth — and how they cause infectious diseases," according to the blog post.
"[But Dr.] Koch's legacy doesn't end there. By developing many of the basic principles and techniques of modern bacteriology, he inspired a new generation of scientists and 'microbe-hunters,' ushering in a Golden Age of bacteriology. During this Golden Age, scientists discovered the microorganisms responsible for causing twenty-one different diseases," the post continued.
The Google Doodle honoring Dr. Koch comprised potato slices — the original medium he used to isolate pure bacterial cells — and a Petri dish, which was invented by Dr. Koch's assistant, Julius Petri, MD.