Chronicling Louis Pasteur's rise from humble beginnings to international fame, Louis Pasteur and the Hidden World of Microbes investigates the complex life of a man who revolutionized our understanding of disease. Alongside Pasteur's pioneering work with microorganisms, his innovative use of heat to kill harmful organisms in food--a process now known as pasteurization--and his development of the rabies vaccine, Louise Robbins places Pasteur in the context of his risky scientific methods and his rigid family and political beliefs. Robbins's reveals a man of genius with sometimes troubling convictions.