Agostino Bassi

Agostino Bassi (born Sept. 25, 1773, near Lodi, Lombardy, Habsburg crown land [now in Italy]—died Feb. 8, 1856, Lodi) was a pioneer Italian bacteriologist, who anticipated the work of Louis Pasteur by 10 years in discovering that numerous diseases are caused by microorganisms.

In 1807 he began an investigation of the silkworm disease mal de segno (commonly known as muscardine), which was causing serious economic losses in Italy and France. After 25 years of research and experimentation, he was able to demonstrate that the disease was contagious and was caused by a microscopic, parasitic fungus. He concluded that the organism, later named Botrytis paradoxa (now Beauvaria) bassiana, was transmitted among the worms by contact and by infected food.

Bassi announced his discoveries in Del mal del segno, calcinaccio o moscardino (1835; “The Disease of the Sign, Calcinaccio or Muscardine”) and proceeded to make the important generalization that many diseases of plants, animals, and man are caused by animal or vegetable parasites. Thus, he preceded both Pasteur and Robert Koch in formulating a germ theory of disease. He prescribed methods for the prevention and elimination of muscardine, the success of which earned him considerable honours.