History of Lactobacillus Thermophilus

In January of 1924 Henry Ayers and Wm. T. Johnson were researching the pasteurizatoin process and the bacteria that were involved. As they were trying to discover what these small "pin-point" colonies were, they isolated bacteria that was very numerous in milk, and would grow at an incredible rate when subjected to the high temperatures involved in the processes of pastuerization.

They named the bacteria Lactobacillus Thermophilus and recorded some information about it. It is curious how the bacteria could survive the pasteurization process because it is a process that breaks down the creams in milk and kills most bacteria.

   Later in the decade, David B. Charlton did a follow up lab to ensure that there was another isolation of this somewhat elusive bacterium. He ended up with a very detailed report that included much of the basic information needed to classify a bacteria. He found that the organism would become sterile very quickly whenever allowed to cool to any lower temperature. And it was likely that the organism did not naturally occur in milk which was why it was difficult to isolate.

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