Since the late 19th century, the Pasteur Institute has been at the forefront of the battle against infectious disease. This worldwide biomedical research organization, based in Paris, was first to isolate the AIDS virus in 1983. Over the years, it has been responsible for breakthrough discoveries that have enabled medical science to control such virulent diseases as diphtheria, tetanus, tuberculosis, poliomyelitis, influenza, yellow fever and plague. Since 1908, eight Pasteur Institute scientists have been awarded the Nobel Prize for medicine and physiology. A private, non-profit organization, the Pasteur Institute was founded in 1887 by Louis Pasteur, the French scientist whose early experiments with fermentation led to pioneering research in bacteriology. A giant in science, Pasteur discovered the principle of sterilization, which came to be known as "pasteurization." His discoveries led to the universal practice of surgical asepsis. He also developed techniques of vaccination to control bacterial infection, as well as a successful vaccine to treat rabies. Louis Pasteur was committed both to basic research and its practical applications. His successors have sustained this tradition, and it is reflected in the Pasteur Institute's unique history of accomplishment.