How was penicillin discovered, and who discovered it?
How was penicillin discovered, and who discovered it?
Answered step-by-step
Penicillin was discovered in 1928 by Alexander Fleming, a bacteriologist at St. Mary’s Hospital in London. The discovery was serendipitous; upon returning from a vacation, Fleming noticed that a mold had contaminated one of his Petri dishes containing Staphylococcus aureus. He observed that the bacteria around the mold, identified as belonging to the Penicillium genus, were unable to grow, indicating that the mold produced a substance that inhibited bacterial growth. Fleming named this antibacterial substance penicillin.
Development and Mass Production
While Fleming’s initial discovery laid the groundwork for penicillin’s use, it was not until the late 1930s that significant efforts were made to develop it into a usable medication. In 1939, a team at Oxford University, led by Howard Florey and including Ernst Boris Chain, began researching penicillin further. They worked on methods for extracting and purifying penicillin, conducting animal experiments to demonstrate its efficacy against bacterial infections.The urgency for penicillin grew during World War II, as it became clear that it could save lives by treating infected wounds. However, the production of penicillin in sufficient quantities posed a significant challenge. The team turned to American pharmaceutical companies for help in mass-producing the drug. By employing fermentation techniques and optimizing growth conditions for Penicillium, they were able to scale up production dramatically
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