Should we think of Fleming as a hero? IntroductionPenicillin has been such an important discovery because it has saved so many lives

The Discovery

Chance played a very big role in Fleming's discovery of penicillin, because the mould that got onto the experiment dish flew in through the open window, when Fleming found the dish with the penicillin mould in it he was showing someone the work he had been doing recently and it was in the sink ready for him to wash it up.

When Fleming found the dish he noticed that there was no germs growing around the structure of the mould, Fleming's individual skill was very important in the observation of the mould because he managed to notice that there were no germs when he was just skimming through his work showing it to one of his friends, when he managed to notice that there were no germs near the mould.

Fleming did not follow up his discovery, he wrote it up in one of his notebooks. He should have tried to discover why there was no germs near the mould, tried to make pure penicillin and try to use it on mice and then maybe humans to see its effect.

The Right Team

In 1938 Howard Florey and Ernst Chain picked up the research into penicillin. They both used their individual strengths to make the experiment successful by making pure penicillin for use on humans.

Chain found out about penicillin because he was a refugee chemist from Germany who joined up with Florey and his team to research penicillin. It was lucky because if he was not made refugee, he would not have come to England and therefore would not have joined Florey's team and help produce penicillin.

Florey made the important decision to make his department go to America so that penicillin could be made in mass production.

Florey and his team infected eight mice with bacterial disease, he then gave four of the mice small doses of penicillin to try to cure them, the mice he gave penicillin to survived and the mice he left without treatment died.

He then tested the penicillin on a policeman who was almost certain to die, his health increased and it was clear that penicillin worked. These experiments were so important because they proved that penicillin actually worked.

Florey's team still had one problem with penicillin it was very hard to make pure and almost impossible to mass produce.

The Final Step

The industry could provide crucial things like the ability to purify penicillin and mass produce it, it also helped distribute it to hospitals.

The war helped the development of penicillin by giving the scientists people to experiment the effects of penicillin on.

Conclusion

I think that Fleming doesn't deserve as much credit as Florey does because he didn't bother to take his discovery any further whereas Florey took it further and was able to make penicillin available and be made in mass production.