Microbiology Final Exam|Microorganisms, Germs, Aseptic
Technique, Spontaneous Generation, Biogenesis, Hooke,
Leeuwenhoek, Redi, Needham, Spallanzani, Virchow, Pasteur, Lister,
Koch, Semmelweis, Jenner, Fleming, Ehrlich, Lancefield, Berg,
Linnaeus, Pasteurization, Vaccines, Synthetic Drugs, Antibiotics,
Quinine, Salversan, Sulfa Drugs, Emerging Infectious Diseases,
Epidemiology, Pathology, Microbiota, Symbiosis, Opportunistic
Pathogens Exam Questions Verified and Provided with Complete A+
Graded Rationales Latest Updated 2026
What are microorganisms? What are germs?
Microorganisms are organisms that are too small to be seen with the unaided eye.
Germ refers to a rapidly growing cell.
What is aseptic technique and why is it important?
Prevents contamination in medicine and microbiology laboratories, in turn, preventing the spread of
infectious diseases.
What is spontaneous generation?
The hypothesis that living organisms arise from nonliving matter; a "vital force" forms life.
What is biogenesis?
The hypothesis that living organisms arise from preexisting life.
,What scientists believed in spontaneous generation?
John Needham
What scientists believed in biogenesis?
Francesco Redi
Rudolf Virchow
Lazzaro Spallanzani
Louis Pasteur
Robert Hook
Developed microscope
Beginning of Cell theory
(all living things are composed of cells or little boxes)
Cork cells were boxes
Anton Van Leeuwenhoek
Amateur scientist
Observed microbes
"animicules"
Detailed drawings
Francesco Redi
Sealed and unsealed jars
Net covered and uncovered jars
,Maggots do not arise spontaneously from decaying meat
Flies lay eggs which become maggots
John Needham
Bacteria from cooked broth
Showed bacteria in broth after being boiled
Vital force in air (when shut lids to broth containers)
Oxygen = vital force (Lavoisier)
Lazzaro Spallanzani
Nutrient broth placed in flask, heated, then sealed. Resulted in no microbial growth.
Rudolf Virchow
Living cells can only arise from preexisting living cells. Coined the term biogenesis.
Louis Pasteur
Demonstrated that microorganisms are present in the air.
Nutrient broth placed in flask, heated, not sealed resulted in microbial growth.
Nutrient broth placed in flask, heated, then sealed resulted in no microbial growth.
Joseph Lister
Used a chemical disinfectant to prevent surgical wound infections.
, Robert Koch
Demonstrated that a bacterium causes anthrax and provided the experimental steps, Koch’s postulates,
to prove that a specific microbe causes a specific disease.
Ignaz Semmelweis
Staphylococcus aureus
Handwashing and childbed (puerperal) fever.
Edward Jenner
Scratched cowpox intentionally into subject.
The subject was then protected from smallpox.
Paul Ehrlich
Magic Bullet (1910) - a term that describes drugs that could destroy a pathogen without harming the
host.
Alexander Fleming
Fungus used by Alexander Fleming to ID bacteria. First antibiotic was a lab accident.
Rebecca Lancefield
Classify serotypes of Streptococci
Different antigens in cell walls
Technique, Spontaneous Generation, Biogenesis, Hooke,
Leeuwenhoek, Redi, Needham, Spallanzani, Virchow, Pasteur, Lister,
Koch, Semmelweis, Jenner, Fleming, Ehrlich, Lancefield, Berg,
Linnaeus, Pasteurization, Vaccines, Synthetic Drugs, Antibiotics,
Quinine, Salversan, Sulfa Drugs, Emerging Infectious Diseases,
Epidemiology, Pathology, Microbiota, Symbiosis, Opportunistic
Pathogens Exam Questions Verified and Provided with Complete A+
Graded Rationales Latest Updated 2026
What are microorganisms? What are germs?
Microorganisms are organisms that are too small to be seen with the unaided eye.
Germ refers to a rapidly growing cell.
What is aseptic technique and why is it important?
Prevents contamination in medicine and microbiology laboratories, in turn, preventing the spread of
infectious diseases.
What is spontaneous generation?
The hypothesis that living organisms arise from nonliving matter; a "vital force" forms life.
What is biogenesis?
The hypothesis that living organisms arise from preexisting life.
,What scientists believed in spontaneous generation?
John Needham
What scientists believed in biogenesis?
Francesco Redi
Rudolf Virchow
Lazzaro Spallanzani
Louis Pasteur
Robert Hook
Developed microscope
Beginning of Cell theory
(all living things are composed of cells or little boxes)
Cork cells were boxes
Anton Van Leeuwenhoek
Amateur scientist
Observed microbes
"animicules"
Detailed drawings
Francesco Redi
Sealed and unsealed jars
Net covered and uncovered jars
,Maggots do not arise spontaneously from decaying meat
Flies lay eggs which become maggots
John Needham
Bacteria from cooked broth
Showed bacteria in broth after being boiled
Vital force in air (when shut lids to broth containers)
Oxygen = vital force (Lavoisier)
Lazzaro Spallanzani
Nutrient broth placed in flask, heated, then sealed. Resulted in no microbial growth.
Rudolf Virchow
Living cells can only arise from preexisting living cells. Coined the term biogenesis.
Louis Pasteur
Demonstrated that microorganisms are present in the air.
Nutrient broth placed in flask, heated, not sealed resulted in microbial growth.
Nutrient broth placed in flask, heated, then sealed resulted in no microbial growth.
Joseph Lister
Used a chemical disinfectant to prevent surgical wound infections.
, Robert Koch
Demonstrated that a bacterium causes anthrax and provided the experimental steps, Koch’s postulates,
to prove that a specific microbe causes a specific disease.
Ignaz Semmelweis
Staphylococcus aureus
Handwashing and childbed (puerperal) fever.
Edward Jenner
Scratched cowpox intentionally into subject.
The subject was then protected from smallpox.
Paul Ehrlich
Magic Bullet (1910) - a term that describes drugs that could destroy a pathogen without harming the
host.
Alexander Fleming
Fungus used by Alexander Fleming to ID bacteria. First antibiotic was a lab accident.
Rebecca Lancefield
Classify serotypes of Streptococci
Different antigens in cell walls
