Bacteriology is the study of microscopic organisms known as bacteria. It is a subdivision of microbiology, and centers around studying, identifying, classifying, and the characteristics of bacterial species. A bacteriologist is someone who studies bacteria, and most of their work is done with the help of microscopes. While there are similarities between microbiology and bacteriology, bacteriology can be classified as its own distinct science.

Louis Pasteur, who was a French scientist, is widely considered to be the father of microbiology. This is because of the massive amount of work he did with bacteria in the 1800s, but it would not be possible without Antoine Van Leeuwenhoek.

Leewenhoek would go on to make many different observations of bacteria in the 1600s. Using a microscope of his own design, he would go on to document many different bacteria. He is widely credited as the first person to observe microscopic organisms under a microscope.

Bacteria are often a few micrometers in length, and have a variety of shapes they can form. Bacteria can exist in most habitats, from acidic hot springs and radioactive waste, to soil or water. They have even been known to live in the deepest portions of the Earth's crust, and live in symbiotic and parasitic environments with plants and animals.

Within a single gram of soil, there are usually 40 million bacterial cells, and a million cells in a milliliter of water. It is estimated that there are 5x10^30 bacteria on earth, making a biomass that goes far beyond that of all plants and animals.

There are ten times as many bacteria that constantly interact with the human body as there are human cells. A large portion of these cells exist on the skin and in the gut. They are vital to recycling nutrients, with many stages in the nutrient cycle depending on bacteria.

Most bacteria are not characterized or even documented yet, and only about half of known bacterial phyla can be created and grown in laboratory environments. With advances in bacteriology, scientists will continue characterizing the wide variety of bacteria, and help us understand them.

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