[Robert Koch; man and work (author's transl)].

The paper presents a brief survey of Robert Koch's brilliant achievement in medicine, with particular emphasis being placed on his discovery of the tubercle bacillus made known on 24th March, 1882, his information about the aetiology of anthrax in 1876, and the pathogens of wound infection (1878), as his most valuable contributions to medical research and practice. Robert Koch can truly be regarded as one of the great benefactors of mankind. He was a genius endowed with spiritual and practical abilities allowing him to rise from a simple practioner to a scientist of world-wide fame and recognition. In 1905 Robert Koch was awarded the Nobel-prize, he died in 1910 from a heart attack.