Discovery of Penicillin

In 1928, bacteriologist Alexander Fleming made a chance discovery from an already discarded, contaminated Petri dish. A mold had grown on the Petri dish when it was left unattended for a couple of days. And the mold seemed to have killed the Staphylococcus aureus that had been growing in the dish.

How Penicillin was Discovered

Fleming realized that this mold had potential. Fleming spent several weeks growing more mold and trying to determine the particular substance in the mold that killed the bacteria. After discussing the mold with mycologist (mold expert) C. J. La Touche who had his office below Fleming's, they determined the mold to be a Penicillium mold. Fleming then called the active antibacterial agent in the mold, penicillin. So, the mold that had contaminated the experiment turned out to contain a powerful antibiotic, penicillin. But, Could this be the "wonder drug"? To Fleming, it was not. Though he saw its potential, Fleming was not a chemist and thus was unable to isolate the active antibacterial element, penicillin, and could not keep the element active long enough to be used in humans.

More Detail about Penicillin

In 1929, Fleming wrote a paper on his findings, which did not garner any scientific interest. Twelve years later In 1940, the second year of World War II, Australian Howard Florey and German refugee Ernst Chain began working with penicillin. Using new chemical techniques, they were able to produce a brown powder which was safe and kept its antibacterial power for longer than a few days. Needing the new drug immediately for the war front, mass production started quickly. The availability of penicillin during World War II saved many lives that otherwise would have been lost due to bacterial infections in even minor wounds. Penicillin also treated diphtheria, gangrene, pneumonia, syphilis and tuberculosis. Though Fleming discovered penicillin, it took Florey and Chain to make it a usable product. Though both Fleming and Florey were knighted in 1944 and all three of them (Fleming, Florey and Chain) were awarded the 1945 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, Fleming is still credited for discovering penicillin.