1. A technique for identifying an unknown micro-organism comprising the steps of: A. Preparing a specimen of the micro-organism to which a radioactive emissive agent has been added that is actively incorporated into the products of metabolism of the micro-organism to produce a mix of radioactive peptide or protein emissive products in a manner that depends on the metabolic mechanism of the micro-organism, B. separating the peptide or protein emissive products in the mix resulting from said preparation of a specimen, C. detecting the separated peptide or protein emissive products to derive a characteristic pattern therefrom that depends on the conditions under which the specimen is prepared, which conditions are standardized to provide a repeatable characteristic pattern functioning as a unique identifier for the unknown micro-organism, and D. comparing the identifier for the unknown micro-organism with stored information relating to the characteristic patterns of known micro-organisms to determine the identification of the unknown.