The Discovery of Penicillin (1928)
This description covers the groundbreaking discovery of penicillin in 1928 by Alexander Fleming. It details the events leading up to the discovery, the impact of the discovery, and the legacy of penicillin in modern medicine. It also examines the life of Alexander Fleming and his contribution to the development of
The discovery of penicillin was one of the most important scientific discoveries in the history of medicine. Ancient societies used moulds to treat infections and in the following centuries many people observed the inhibition of bacterial growth by moulds. While working at St Mary's Hospital in London in 1928, Scottish physician Alexander Fleming was the first to experimentally demonstrate that a Penicillium mould secretes an antibacterial substance, which he named "penicillin". The mould was found to be a variant of Penicillium notatum, a contaminant of a bacterial culture in his laboratory. The work on penicillin at St Mary's ended in 1929.