10 Euros Louis Pasteur

Issued as part of the French Mint's ongoing "Stars of Science" commemorative program, this piece marks the bicentenary of Pasteur's birth in 1822. The choice of billon — low-grade silver — rather than the fine silver used in prestige issues is a deliberate production decision that keeps these accessible as circulating commemoratives, though few actually circulate. Pasteur's most consequential work, the germ theory experiments of the 1850s and 1860s, directly overturned the doctrine of spontaneous generation and reshaped medicine, surgery, and food preservation simultaneously.

The Institut Pasteur, founded in 1887 with funds raised by public subscription, still operates as an independent research center in Paris.