Alexander Fleming: The Discovery of Penicillin

In this reading there was many very interesting facts about penicillin. Penicillin was a breakthrough in the medical field in the 20th century. The scientist Alexander Fleming had accidentally spilled a vile of bacteria on to a plate of bacteria to his benefit he found that is had stopped the growth of bacteria. This accidental discover has benefited everyone in the world because we have to get these shots if we are infected, plus it saved many life’s in world war II. However, Penicillin is considered an antibiotic chemical that is created by living organism to stop the growth of bacteria and prevent an illness if people were to come into contact with this problem. Since the discovery and massive stock piling of this cure it has become less

In 1929 Fleming published his findings to a British Journal of Experimental Pathology, referencing that penicillin had potential of therapeutic benefits. Dr. Fleming was never able to purify his samples of penicillin, but he became the first person to publish the news of its germ-killing power. Howard Florey, Ernst Chain and Norman Heatley expanded on Fleming 's work in 1938, at Oxford University.

World War II was a historical turning point not only for the basis of political power and war tactics, but also for drugs and medical advances. Between 1939 and 1945, new medical techniques were developed as a direct response to new weaponry. One of the more profound advances was penicillin, discovered in 1928 by Scottish scientist Sir Alexander Fleming. During the war, the drug helped reduce the overall number of amputations and

Alexander Fleming, a name often connected to the evolution of medicine. Perhaps one of the most impactful and influential scientific researchers of the 20th century thus making him the most deserving to receive The Carleton Prize for Biotechnology. Providing enormous advances in the understanding of human biology through his findings of Lysozyme and Benzyl penicillin (The Nobel Foundation, 1945). Lysozyme has acted as a stepping stool for scientists in further understanding the human immune system and Benzyl penicillin later transformed into one of the most vastly used antibiotics in human history. He and his co-scientists (Howard Florey and Ernst Boris Chain) were recognized by receiving the

Jesse Lane says in Not-So-Dumb Luck, When he came back, he noticed that every dish he had left out in the open was covered in mold.” She later says, “The dish that had caught Fleming’s eye contained a staphylococci culture- in other words, it was chock full of bacteria- and while Fleming had been away, the culture had also grown a tuft of yellow-green mold.” And that was the beginning revolutionary history of penicillin. Later in the paragraph the author says, “After some experimentation, he found that the ring was bacteria free, and that the mold was a rare spore called Penicillium notatum,” Where the name penicillin comes from ”which had wafted on air currents into his lab from another floor.” If he hadn’t gone on vacation and left his lab a mess then penicillin wouldn’t be with us today saving lives.Thirdly, penicillin is a widely used medicine that kills bacteria and treats

Rowland, John. The Penicillin Man: The story of Alexander Fleming. EightImpression. London: Lutherworth Press, 1969.

Fleming’s work was later expanded by Howard Florey and Ernst Chain and their team at Oxford University beginning in 1938, about ten years after Fleming’s first findings. They were able to transform penicillin as a curiosity in the lab and antiseptic to the life-saving antibiotic we know it as today. Howard Florey was deemed at an early age by his older sister who was a medical student at the time to be the next “Pasteur” due to his interest in pursuing medical research. Florey then achieved much as a student at the University of Adelaide, which at that time didn’t specialize in researchers, but in preparing general practitioners. Howard then went on to receive the Rhodes Scholarship to study in England at Oxford University. He used this opportunity as a springboard to going on to study in America and return back to England to Oxford University achieve much greatness. In 1938, he became the director of the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology. After a few years of taking on a variety of experiments and gathering a team of trusted professionals, he spearheaded work on the self-proclaimed “Penicillin Project” after coming across and sifting

While some discoveries occur after years of painstaking research backed by times of frustration and the urge to give up completely, others occur after a mistake in a singular moment. Similar to the finding of X-rays and matchsticks, the discovery of penicillin by Sir Alexander Fleming in 1928 took place due to a complete accident.

In 1918, Alexander Fleming returned to St. Mary’s when the war had ended. Later in 1921, Alexander Fleming had discovered an important bacteriolytic substance which he named Lysozyme. Fleming had thought

Antibiotics were introduced to people in 1929, which could restrain the normal growth of the other bacteria called antimicrobial activity, was found by British scientist Alexander Fleming by coincidence. Then scientists used antibiotics, to cure injured soldiers and got great success during the World War. With the efforts of many scientists in the past half of the century, thousand kinds of antibiotics are found, which could be natural, semi-synthetic or synthetic, and many of them are used in medical field successfully.

In 1928, after the careless mistake of forgetting to clean his dishes, Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin. The scientific community still celebrates his discovery since it was a major breakthrough in science, especially in the antibiotics and fermentation field. Although his discovery changed various scientific fields and it opened the doors for research in areas not studied or considered relevant before, the actual usefulness of penicillin was truly reached until the large scale production of penicillin was achieved. Before its manufacturing penicillin was considered for researching purposes, but after its manufacturing during World War II, it truly became helpful for humanity because it could finally start performing within its antibiotic spectrum.

To begin with, penicillin had two accidental discoveries. “Originally noticed by a French medical student, Ernest Duchesne, in 1896” (Bellis 123). This means penicillin was noticed years before it was actually discovered. Alexander Fleming re-discovered penicillin when “he observed that a plate culture of Staphylococcus had been contaminated by a blue-green mold and that colonies of bacteria adjacent to the mold were being dissolved” (Bellis 123). This is important because penicillin was re-discovered and this time its medical potential was noticed. All in all, the accidental discoveries by Duchesne and Fleming were monumental events that lead to penicillin becoming widely used.

The own Alexander Fleming indicates that the discovery occurred on 28 September 1928 and that this was accidental. I believe that all of us know how the penicillin was discovered: some bacterial cultures were contaminated by the fungus. He observed that a part of one of the cultures the bacterias had been destroyed by one of this pollutant.

Before Alexander Fleming founded penicillin,a French medical student Ernest Duchesne first noticed penicillin. In 1897, he first recorded his finding on a piece of paper differentiating molds and microbes. Ernest first came across clues for developing penicillin when he was in the Military Health Service School in Arabia. He saw that the stable boys at the hospital kept their saddles in dark and damp rooms to intentionally let mold grow.When Ernest ask the reason for these peculiar actions, the stable boys told him that the mold would heal the saddle sore on horse.Ernest then take this information and decided to test it on guinea pigs. Ernest Duchesne extracted substances from penicillium glaucum and successfully cured typhoids in guinea pigs,

Australian Nobel Laureates Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet and Professor Peter Doherty, were the first to change scientists’ basic understanding of the function of the immune system, as well as the way infectious diseases and autoimmune diseases (A disease in which the body produces antibodies that attack its own tissues, leading to the deterioration and in some cases to the destruction of such tissue) are diagnosed and treated. Another Australian Nobel Laureate Sir Howard Florey developed the first antibiotic, penicillin, for use in humans.