Julius Richard Petri
| Julius Richard Petri | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
May 31, 1852 Barmen, German Confederation |
| Died | December 20, 1921 (aged 69) Zeitz, Germany |
| Residence | Berlin |
| Citizenship | German |
| Nationality | Prussian |
| Fields | Bacteriologist, military physician, surgeon |
| Institutions | Kaiserliches Gesundheitsamt, Göbersdorf sanatorium , Museum of Hygiene, Kaiserliches Gesundheitsamt |
Julius Richard Petri (May 31, 1852 – December 20, 1921) was a German microbiologist who is generally credited with inventing the device known as the Petri dish after him, while working as assistant to bacteriologist Robert Koch.
Petri first studied medicine at the Kaiser Wilhelm Academy for Military Physicians (1871–1875) and received his medical degree in 1876. He continued his studies at the Charité Hospital in Berlin and had active duty as a military physician until 1882, continuing then as a reservist.
From 1877 to 1879 he was assigned to the Imperial Health Office (German: Kaiserliches Gesundheitsamt) in Berlin, where he became an assistant to Robert Koch. On the suggestion of Angelina Hesse, the New York-born wife of another assistant, Walther Hesse, the Koch laboratory began to culture bacteria on agar plates. Petri then invented the standard culture dish, or Petri plate, and further developed the technique of agar culture to purify or clone bacterial colonies derived from single cells. This advance made it possible to rigorously identify the bacteria responsible for diseases.
Petri dishes are often used to make plates that are used for microbiology studies. The dish is partially filled with warm liquid containing agar, and a mixture of specific ingredients that may include nutrients, blood, salts, carbohydrates, dyes, indicators, amino acids and antibiotics. After the agar cools and solidifies, the dish is ready to receive a microbe-laden sample in a process known as inoculation or "plating". For virus or phage cultures, a two-step inoculation is needed: bacteria are grown first to provide hosts for the viral inoculum.
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