History GCSE

Germ Theory

What Germ Theory means in History GCSE, as defined for Pearson Edexcel.

Definition of Germ Theory

Check what you remember

Read the wording for your board, then hide it and explain Germ Theory in your own words. Rough notes are fine. This is a self-check, with no mark or grade.

Reference: Pearson Edexcel

Louis Pasteur's theory, published in 1861, which proved that microbes in the air caused decay, challenging spontaneous generation.

Pearson Edexcel · Option 11: c1700–c1900: Medicine in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Britain - 1 Ideas about the cause of disease and illness (study guide)

Topics that use Germ Theory

Option 11: c1700–c1900: Medicine in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Britain - 1 Ideas about the cause of disease and illness (Pearson Edexcel GCSE)

Related terms

Miasma

Using Germ Theory in the exam

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