Magyar Posta is issuing a commemorative stamp in honour of the 200th anniversary of the birth of the well-known microbiologist and chemist Louis Pasteur. The new issue designed by the graphic artist András Szunyoghy Jr was produced by ANY Security Printing Company, and will be available at first day post offices and Filaposta in Hungary and may also be ordered from Magyar Posta’s online store from 1 April 2022.
Louis Pasteur (1822-1895) was the French microbiologist and chemist who developed the vaccine against the dreaded fatal disease rabies, and is known as perhaps the most important single figure in the history of medicine, as the founder of microbiology, immunology and epidemiology. His reputation principally rests on further developing the germ theory of disease and on the methods of vaccination he developed. In 1888, the Pasteur Institute in Paris was established under his leadership, putting immunisation at the heart of medical treatment.
Pasteur’s scientific achievements were so fundamental that he was unquestionably the major contributor to the sharp fall in mortality rates since the mid-19th century and the near doubling of life expectancy in most parts of the world.
The Hungarian Academy of Sciences elected Louis Pasteur an honorary member at its general assembly on 19 May 1881.
The stamp shows a stylised microscopic image of “bacteria” forming Pasteur’s facial features. A microscope, designed in the same style as the stamp, appears on the commemorative first day cover. Louis Pasteur’s signature is used in the design of a special postmark.
