Write a very short story on the discovery of penicillin
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One day, in September of 1928, Dr. Alexander Fleming was cleaning-up his lab at St Mary's Hospital Medical School in London, England. Among the usual clutter in his work space, Professor Fleming saw something unusual in a culture plate.
He'd been investigating Staphylococcus, a type of bacteria. In a petri dish, containing that bacteria, some mold (also spelled "mould") was growing in the form of a ring.
Mold in a petri dish was nothing unusual, in and of itself. What caught Professor Fleming's eye, however, was something quite different.
The area around the mold ring seemed to be free of bacteria. Fleming wondered: Is there something about this particular mold which is killing off the bacteria? If so, what substance is coming from the mold?
Fleming investigated the mold a bit further. He put it in a dish so he could watch it grow. As it grew, he was able to extract some liquid from it. His additional research showed that whatever was active in the liquid, which he extracted from the mold, could also kill other types of bacteria.
Taking his research a step further, this curious bacteriologist found that he could give some of the liquid extract to small animals with no side effects. His discovery seemed to have amazing antibiotic properties.
As he continued to study the mold, Fleming realized that it was from the genus "Penicillium," which had first been described in 1809 by Johann Heinrich Friedrich Link (in Observationes in ordines plantarum naturales). That name - penicillium - was selected because the fungus, under a microscope, resembles a painter's brush. The Latin word for "painter’s brush" is penicillium.
Busy with other things, Professor Fleming moved on to other investigations. He just couldn't squeeze-out enough of the "mould juice" to make it a major focus of his work. He did give his discovery a name, however. He called it “penicillin,” and published a paper about his findings in 1929.
Then ... nine years passed. About the time Great Britain declared war on Germany, in 1939, an Oxford University Professor of Pathology - Dr Howard Florey - was examining substances capable of combating bacteria. He and his colleague, Dr. Ernst Chain, believed that penicillin was the best choice.
He'd been investigating Staphylococcus, a type of bacteria. In a petri dish, containing that bacteria, some mold (also spelled "mould") was growing in the form of a ring.
Mold in a petri dish was nothing unusual, in and of itself. What caught Professor Fleming's eye, however, was something quite different.
The area around the mold ring seemed to be free of bacteria. Fleming wondered: Is there something about this particular mold which is killing off the bacteria? If so, what substance is coming from the mold?
Fleming investigated the mold a bit further. He put it in a dish so he could watch it grow. As it grew, he was able to extract some liquid from it. His additional research showed that whatever was active in the liquid, which he extracted from the mold, could also kill other types of bacteria.
Taking his research a step further, this curious bacteriologist found that he could give some of the liquid extract to small animals with no side effects. His discovery seemed to have amazing antibiotic properties.
As he continued to study the mold, Fleming realized that it was from the genus "Penicillium," which had first been described in 1809 by Johann Heinrich Friedrich Link (in Observationes in ordines plantarum naturales). That name - penicillium - was selected because the fungus, under a microscope, resembles a painter's brush. The Latin word for "painter’s brush" is penicillium.
Busy with other things, Professor Fleming moved on to other investigations. He just couldn't squeeze-out enough of the "mould juice" to make it a major focus of his work. He did give his discovery a name, however. He called it “penicillin,” and published a paper about his findings in 1929.
Then ... nine years passed. About the time Great Britain declared war on Germany, in 1939, an Oxford University Professor of Pathology - Dr Howard Florey - was examining substances capable of combating bacteria. He and his colleague, Dr. Ernst Chain, believed that penicillin was the best choice.
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Short story on the discovery of Penicillin:
In 1928, Sir Alexander Fleming was working in the inoculation department of St. Mary Hospital in London. As routine habit, he was involved in cleaning his work place.
As he wise cleaning the tiles where he had placed a lot of petridishies inoculated with bacterial culture he found that in one of the petridish, a ring like structural growth was seen.
This region was free of bacterial invasion. He isolated the ring like structure in separate plate and studied it and later revealed that it is an antibiotic which has a killing ability of bacteria and named it as penicillin as it is extracted from fungi Penicillium notatum.
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