Penicillin Discovery
Was the discovery of penicillin an accident? Who really discovered penicillin? Many believe that penicillin was discovered by Alexander Fleming, although he sparked the research for penicillin, he wasn’t the first. Penicillin had and still does have an effect on the medical world. Penicillin has a very rich history behind it, and it is still used world round. One significant story that led to the discovery of penicillin was the one of Alexander Fleming. Although Alexander Fleming is credited for the discovery of penicillin he wasn’t the first, it was first noticed by a French medical student Ernest Duchesne (Bellis, 123). The story goes that Fleming, who had a very messy lab, went on a one month vacation and left his lab supplies open. Lane
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The war added a greater reason for new medicine, so in 1939, almost ten years after the re-discovery of Penicillin, Britain needed medicine and turned to the United States of America for help (Bellis 123). Many eager scientists were looking for an easy and cost efficient way of making and selling Penicillin; scientists at Oxford University, Howard Florey and Norman Heatly, eventually found a way. Two years later in 1941 Florey and Heatly discovered an easy and low cost way of producing Penicillin, Bellis claims that they were, “pumping air into deep vats containing corn steep liquor (a non-alcoholic by-product of the wet milling process)” (124). This new medicine could help wounded soldiers with bacterial infections; the drug saved many lives of the time. Howard Florey, Alexander Fleming, and another scientist who helped Florey, Ernest Chain, all won the Noble Prize in Physiology or Medicine (Connors 126). Another scientist that helped mass produce Penicillin was Andrew Moyer; Moyer worked on ways to make the product easier to use and he made it more cost efficient, Bellis claims that, “the price dropped from nearly priceless in 1940, to $20 per dose in July 1943, to $0.55 per dose by 1946.” Furthermore, Penicillin could save so many people due to the fact that it is a bacteria
The war added a greater reason for new medicine, so in 1939, almost ten years after the re-discovery of Penicillin, Britain needed medicine and turned to the United States of America for help (Bellis 123). Many eager scientists were looking for an easy and cost efficient way of making and selling Penicillin; scientists at Oxford University, Howard Florey and Norman Heatly, eventually found a way. Two years later in 1941 Florey and Heatly discovered an easy and low cost way of producing Penicillin, Bellis claims that they were, “pumping air into deep vats containing corn steep liquor (a non-alcoholic by-product of the wet milling process)” (124). This new medicine could help wounded soldiers with bacterial infections; the drug saved many lives of the time. Howard Florey, Alexander Fleming, and another scientist who helped Florey, Ernest Chain, all won the Noble Prize in Physiology or Medicine (Connors 126). Another scientist that helped mass produce Penicillin was Andrew Moyer; Moyer worked on ways to make the product easier to use and he made it more cost efficient, Bellis claims that, “the price dropped from nearly priceless in 1940, to $20 per dose in July 1943, to $0.55 per dose by 1946.” Furthermore, Penicillin could save so many people due to the fact that it is a bacteria