The Observer - The Story of Louis Pasteur

Chapter 2

Although Louis liked school, his grades weren't high.

Some teachers even thought he was too dreamy and slow .

Louis could indeed spend hours dreaming and painting.

He liked drawing scenes and people around him. He even painted a portrait of his mother in great detail.

One day in high school, the principal, Mr. Romanet, took Louis for a walk in the school yard.

"Louis, what would you like to do after you graduate?" He asked

"I don't know," Louis replied. "My dad wants me to be a teacher, but everyone thinks I should become an artist."

"You will be an excellent scientist." said Mr. Romanet

Louis was surprised. "But I don't know much about science and everyone knows I'm a slow learner"

"My dear child, you are slow because you look carefully at things before you come to any conclusion. You never give an answer without being absolutely sure that it is correct. That's how a scientist thinks. There is a university in Paris that is just for you. Its name is 'École Normale'."

To be admitted to École Normale, Louis had to attend a preparatory school in Paris . But Louis's parents didn't have enough money.

A family friend suggested sending Louis to a preparatory school that gave tuition discounts for students coming from rural areas and Louis's parents immediately agreed.

At the age of 15, Louis parted from his family on his way to Paris. He was looking forward to begin his studies, especially while his friend Jules was coming too.

But soon Louis became homesick so much that he told Jules "If only I could smell the tannery again, I would feel better!"

He could no longer study and his father came to take him home.

Louis felt that he had disappointed himself and his parents. But a year later, he graduated from the Arbois High School while winning all the awards he could get.

After such a success, he wanted to try for École Normale again.

This time, Louis was sent to a preparatory school near Arbois.

Louis loved his studies. His science teacher taught him things that seemed magical, such as creating crystals out of liquid materials .

Nevertheless, Louis had hard time at school.

To access École Normale admission, first he had to apply for a Bachelor of Science degree. He failed the exams and studied for another year, whereafter he barely passed.

His first attempt at subsequent entrance examination ranked him as 15th out of 22 applicants.

Intermediate grades were not enough for Louis. He took another year hoping to become one of the outstanding freshmen.

Finally , the hard work paid off. His grades on the admission tests were among the highest.

Louis was excited.

On his first day at École Normale, he arrived before everyone else eager to begin.

Louis studied twelve hours a day. When he was not attending courses or working in the lab, he was in the library. He was fascinated by the stories of great people's lives and by the knowledge Ecol Normal had to offer. He liked performing experiments in the lab all weekends. He also taught young students math so that his parents would not have to work so hard to pay for his tuition.

Despite his efforts, his doctorate scores in Physics and Chemistry were mediocre.

But Louis's diligence impressed his chemistry professor, who agreed to accept Louis as a lab assistant and gave him a free hand in choosing topics for research.

Louis remembered the magic of crystals from the preparatory period, so he chose to investigate the mystery that many chemists were trying to solve:

Chemists knew that crystals that had similar atomic properties and structure filtered light in one and the same way. The problem was that crystals formed from two acids that were similar to each other - racemic and tartaric - filtered light differently.

Louis discovered the reason for the difference. He proved that contrary to what had been perceived, the structure of the two acids was different.

This discovery was considered a breakthrough and attracted the attention of the French Academy of Sciences.