Howard Florey and Ernst Chain were research scientists. After reading the papers that Fleming had written on penicillin and its properties they were intrigued. They believed that if Fleming's findings proved to be correct this discovery could save a lot of lives and prevent a lot of pain. It would also make the battle of preventing and fighting infection much easier.
In a lot of the places where Fleming failed to succeed Chain and Florey provailed. They developed a method of growing penicillin. This proved to be costly and labourous at first, but it was a start. After producing enough pure penicillin Florey and Chain began to test its effectiveness on mice. The tests were successful and the two scientists were convinced that the drug would be able to cure many people who would otherwise die.
Already Florey and Chain had taken the whole theorem of Penicillin having curative properties to a new level. They had already began to prove their research and the results were being seen as more and more convincing.
However, Florey and Chain were unable to expand on the development of the drug, as any option to mass produve penicillin was not financially feasable at the time. This all changed at the end of 1941. Once involved with the conflict, the Americans were easily persuaded to develop and produce the drug for those in service during the war. The experimentation and development research previously done by Fleming was showing outstanding results. Florey and Chain could now show that penicillin faught the spread of infection, would give sick people [or those with ailements] a chance of recovering, and gave the medical profession a drug that kept the inside of the as body clean as the tools that were being used in medical practise (they were being treated with antiseptics).
Florey and Chain along with Flemming each received the Nobel Prize for the development of the penicillin drug in 1945.
In my opinion each of the men played an active role in the developement of penicillin, however as you can see the more practical approach seems to have come from both Florey and Chain. Fleming has to be credited for rediscovering penicillin, however many critics would agree that this discovery was mainly due to chance. However, without that element of chance the development of the drug penicillin could never have happened. We owe Florey and Chain for their hard work and perseverence, and Fleming for his detailed accounts and research papers on penicillin and its antibiotic properties. Quite rightfully, each of them were awarded for their triumphs in 1945.
