René Dubos - The Rockefeller Institute

I only knew of the Dubos growth media used in the labs. Now in a dedicated biography I understand the size of the man, and his time during the pre-antibiotic era. Below are some quotes that show that what we see as innovation today, existed before:

"Frederick Gates, adviser to Rockefeller, read Osler's Principles and Practice of Medecine, and understood that medecine did not cure more of four or five diseases. He realised that the causes of diseases as well as remedies could be found if facilities existed for intensive research. The Rockefeller Institute was founded free of university, government, or commercial control"

"Gates advised that medecine could hardly hope to become a science until qualified men could give themselves to uninterrupted study and investigation, on ample salary, entirely independent of practice - freed from clinical duties, teaching, examinations, and administrative responsabilities""

"Intially, microbiology and pathology were the predominant sciences at the Institute. The focus changed rapidly to a more biochemical outlook, and bacteriologists were then joined by chemists, physiologists, and biophysicists"

Moberg - Dubos, Friend of the good Earth