The discovery of Penicillin heralded the dawn of the antibiotic age in medicine. Before Penicillin it was common for a patient to die of blood poisoning from a simple cut or from infections like pneumonia. Penicillin was the first true broad-spectrum antibiotic and its discovery was based on a lucky mistake!
In September of 1928, a Scottish microbiologist named Alexander Fleming forgot to clear away some petri dishes containing colonies of staphylococcus bacteria. He noticed that one dish was clear around the area where a mould was growing. It was as if the mould had secreted something that inhibited bacterial growth.
Fleming found that this mould was capable of killing a wide range of harmful bacteria and called the substance Penicillin. He delegated the job of isolating pure Penicillin from the mould to his assistants Stuart Craddock and Frederick Ridley. This task proved rather tricky and it was only by 1943 that drug companies began mass-producing Penicillin. It soon became the wonder drug of the century and Fleming was awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine in 1945 for his fortuitous mistake!
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