GCSE HISTORY - example questions.

Past exam questions.

2) The boxes below show two important events -

(Louis Pasteur published his work on Germ theory in 1861)

(Watson and Crick published their discovery of DNA in 1953)

Choose one event and explain why it was important in improving our understanding of the causes of ill health.

Pasteur's germ theory had great significance on improving our understanding of the causes of ill health. Not only did it allow doctors to finally find the cause of illnesses and banish ideas such as the 'Four humours' and 'Miasmas' for good, it also allowed new discoveries such as Flemming and penicillin to be found, and used to cure diseases.

Firstly, before Pasteur's theory, doctors did not know exactly what caused diseases. They mostly believed in Misasmas - during the Middle Ages and later periods etc, or the theory of the four humours, developed by Hippocrates - later Galen. This meant that there was a lot of misdiagnosis and consequently, treatments didn't work. People would most likley die rather than actually survive and get better.

Pasteur's discovery of germ theory was also very influential to others to develop in medicine. His his theory meant that…