Born December 27, 1822 in France, he received his early education at the College of Communal of Arbois. His time there was spent fishing and sketching, not on his education. For a short time it was thought he might become a portrait artist. Then his course started in science and his interest grew. He received his first degree at Besancon. He then applied for the Ecole Normale Sup Rievre in Paris. There he would study under Dumas, Balard and Biot. His first work was done on crystals.
             Pasteur refused to accept Mitscherlich dictum about crystals. He was convinced that two compounds that had the same chemical compound but reacted to the rotation of light differently could be identical. The internal structure of the two compounds must be different and this was showed in crystal form. When examining the paratartrate crystals he found they were almost identical, but not quite. They were mirror images. He then separated the left and right crystals with a microscope and dissecting needle. After completion he had two piles, one from the left side and one from the right side. He then showed that in solution one form rotated to the left and the other to the right. This proved that organic molecules with the same chemical composition can exist in space in unique stereospecific forms. Thus the new science for stereochemistry started. (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11536a.htm)
             In 1856 the father of one of his students asked for his help in manufacturing alcohol by fermentation of beetroot. Bigot's, (the father) previous attempts produced lactic acid. Pasteur showed up at the factory with microscope in hand to help. He promptly found three clues that helped solve the problem. First was when the alcohol was produced normally yeast cells were plump, when lactic acid formed small rod like microbes were mixed with the yeast cells. Second amyl alcohol and other complex organic compounds were forming during f
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