An ode to a great man, Louis Pasteur, whose work is of particular significance today.

This is at once a biography of Louis Pasteur's life, but also a personal essay by Erik Orsenna, which was inspired by the fact that he occupies the same chair at the Académie française as Pasteur himself once did. Embarrassed by his own ignorance about biology, Orsenna sets about studying the career of the great biologist, whose findings continue to impact our daily lives even now. Along the way, Orsenna also makes discoveries about the man himself, and his love for and partnership with Marie Pasteur.