Inventors naming names

Pasteurisation is one example of the incorporation of the name of an inventor in a word used to describe the process he invented, in this case Louis Pasteur (1822-95). Pasteur and Claude Bernard developed the procedure in 1862 when they showed that heating fresh foods such as milk and wine killed enough of the microorganisms in the food to prevent spoilage. This is done at lower temperatures and for shorter times than sterilisation, a process which kills all the bacteria but also alters flavour and taste. Other terms used to describe inventors' legacies are less familiar than pasteurisation.