HOW IT HAPPENED
Dr. Alexander Fleming was returning to work from the holidays when he started to sort through petri
dishes containing Staphylococcus that had been left in the laboratory over the break. As he was sorting, he found mold in one of the samples that was secreting a liquid. The liquid seemed to be warding off the bacteria. Fleming and his colleges, revealed the new substance as a rare form of Penicillium Notatum. The secretion was capable of killing a wide range of bacteria. Immediate work began on isolating a pure form of the penicillin. Because the extracting process was difficult, Fleming needed other scientist to carry out his work. Two scientists from Oxford University, Earnest Chain and Howard Florey, were the men for the job. They began using the pure form of Penicillin and converted it into a drug to be used in World War II. Penicillin was used to rid infections of the wounded and saved many soldiers lives. |
A photo from Alexander Fleming's journal of the Staphylococcal colony being pushed away from the penicillin colony.
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