in the 18th century, pierre-louis moreau de maupertuis made experiments with scorpion venom and observed that certain dogs and mice were immune to this venom. this and other observations of acquired immunity led to louis pasteur (1822–1895) developing vaccination and the germ theory of disease. pasteur's theory was in direct opposition to contemporary theories of disease, such as the miasma theory. it was not until the proofs robert koch (1843–1910) published in 1891 (for which he was awarded a nobel prize in 1905) that microorganisms were confirmed as the cause of infectious disease. viruses were confirmed as human pathogens in 1901, when the yellow fever virus was discovered by walter reed (1851–1902).