Louis Pasteur, a child of the Jura, a man for the world

Abstract

How did Louis Pasteur, born in a small town in the Jura—Dole, still little known to the world today, become a man of global recognition and fame? The answer to this question is guided by two pivotal considerations. First is Pasteur's relationship to the representation of reality. This relationship was seeded and steadily developed since his juvenile years through practicing different forms of artistic expression, the most famous of which were subtle pastels portraying Pasteur's parents and neighbors. This genuine attraction towards art gradually became «scientificized» at the same time, when new means of reproducing the reality were invented, such as photography. The second consideration, critical to understand the phenomenon of Pasteur's celebrity, is a strong linkage of his research with nature-based agricultural production. Here again, deeply rooted in his youth and home environment, permeated with the taste of wine and the smell of tanned leather, Pasteur's interests necessitated the processes of communication, not only at the scientific level, but also on a daily life basis, with numerous «social actors» at play (ferments, silkworms etc.). Throughout his work, Pasteur had to provide himself with the means to set up these interdisciplinarity and communication. The final result was the Pasteur Institute, or rather the Pasteur Institutes and the global Pasteur network.