The process of proving a microorganism causes a specific disease is known as what?

The process of proving that a microorganism is the cause of a specific disease is known as Koch's Postulates. This framework was developed by Robert Koch in the late 19th century and consists of a series of criteria that must be met in order to establish a causal relationship between a microbe and a disease. The key components of Koch's Postulates include demonstrating that the microorganism is present in diseased individuals, isolating it from those individuals and growing it in pure culture, showing that the cultured microorganism causes the disease when introduced into a healthy host, and then re-isolating the microorganism from the newly diseased host. This methodology laid the foundation for microbiology and infectious disease research, providing a systematic approach to identify the pathogens responsible for various illnesses.