In Louis Pasteur, the distinguished French immunologist and physician Patrice Debre offers the most extensive, balanced, and detailed account of the scientist's life, struggles, and contributions yet written.

First published in France in 1994 to mark the centenary of Pasteur's death in 1895, Debre's biography draws heavily on Pasteur's own scientific notebooks and writings to present a complete critical account of his discoveries and of the controversies they raised with other scientists, occasionally with his closest associates, and with historians ever since. Debre provides an extremely well documented narrative of Pasteur's life and family, as well as his relations with the French government and the established scientific and medical communities.

And he places Pasteur in historical context, describing the politics and culture of nineteenth-century France and sketching portraits of the other scientists, including Marcelin Berthelot, Emile Littre, and Claude Bernard, whose life or work became intertwined with Pasteur's.