Microbiology of Antarctica

Abstract

The association of microorganisms with chemical changes in organic materials was ably demonstrated by Lours Pasteur in the late 1850’s. These observations aroused the curiosity of naturalists and physicians who accompanied exploring vessels into the high latitudes. At a time when heterogenesis still had proponents, Nyström (1868) aboard the Sofia repeated Pastrur’s classical “sterile broth” experiments at Spitzbergen. This demonstration of the presence of bacteria in Arctic air was apparently the first polar bacteriological study.