Reference.

com/Encyclopedia/Hans Christian Gram Page 1

Premium Content | Register | Log In | Help

Hans Christian Gram

Dictionary Thesaurus Encyclopedia All Reference The Web

A DV ER TI SE ME NT

A DV ER TI SE ME NT

Hans Christian Gram

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - Cite This Source

Hans Christian Joachim Gram (September 13, 1853 - November 14, 1938) was a Danish
bacteriologist. He was the son of Frederik Terkel Julius Gram, a professor of jurisprudence, and
Louise Christiane Roulund.

Gram studied botany at the University of Copenhagen and and was an assistant in botany to the
zoologist Japetus Steenstrup. His plants introduced him to the basis of pharmacology and the
use of the microscope.

He entered medical school in 1878 and graduated in 1883. He travelled throughout Europe
between 1878 and 1885. In Berlin, in 1884, he developed a method for distinguishing between
two major classes of bacteria. This technique, the Gram Stain, continues to be a standard
procedure in medical microbiology.

In 1891, Gram became a lecturer in pharmacology, and later that year was appointed professor
at the University of Copenhagen. In 1900 he his Chair in Pharmacology to become Professor of
Medicine.

The Gram Stain

The work that gained him international reputation was his development of a method of staining
bacteria. The stain later played a major role in classifying bacteria. Gram was a modest man,
and in his initial publication he remarked "I have therefore published the method, although I am
aware that as yet it is very defective and imperfect; but it is hoped that also in the hands of
other investigators it will turn out to be useful."

Other Work
His initial work concerned the study of Red blood cells in man. He was among the first to
recognise that macrocytes were characteristic of pernicious anaemia.
After his appointment as professor of Medicine in 1900 he published four volumes of clinical
lectures which became widely used in Denmark. He retired in 1923.

References

B.G. Firkin & J.A.Whitworth (1987). Dictionary of Medical Eponyms . Parthenon Publishing. ISBN 1-
85070-333-7

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia © 2001-2006 Wikipedia contributors (Disclaimer)

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Last updated on Wednesday March 21, 2007 at 06:59:34 PDT (GMT -0700)
View this article at Wikipedia.org - Edit this article at Wikipedia.org - Donate to the Wikimedia
Foundation

About Reference.com | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Link to Us | Contact Us

Copyright © 2007, Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. All rights reserved.

http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Hans_Christian_Gram 05/09/2007 02:35:59 PM