Food for Thought

"To will is a great thing dear sisters for Action and Work usually follow Will, and almost always Work is accompanied by Success. These three things, Work, Will and Success, fill human existence. Will opens the door to success both brilliant and happy; Work passes through these doors, and at the end of the journey Success comes down to crown one's efforts". - Louis Pasteur

MicroJournal Entry #1 - Reflection

In the past week, I have learnt about the history of microbiology and the chemistry associated with it. I was intrigued by many things. Microbiology is very important for my intended career, Medical Science, and I am glad to have the opportunity to study it. Even though the semester has just begun, I can already see how useful this science is.

Microbiology is defined as the study of living organisms at the microscopic level. A pioneer of Microbiology was Antonio van Leeuwenhoek. Leeuwenhoek was born in the year 1632 in Delft, Netherlands. One of the most important things I have learnt so far is that Leeuwenhoek invented the first microscope to satisfy his curiosity of what things looked like under magnifying glass. This is very important to me because the world owes all we now know about bacteria, fungi, viruses and other microscopic organisms to him and his obsession with the question "What does it really look like?".

The second most important thing I learnt about was how wine is fermented. As a wine lover, I am fascinated to know that anaerobic bacteria ferment grape juice into acids and yeast cells ferment it to produce alcohol! I will never look at yeast the same way again.

I have not encountered anything that is confusing to me yet. I look forward to learning much more as the semester progresses.