No photograph is shown for this exhibition. The museum displays an image only where it can show the object honestly.
About this date
Alexander Fleming observed the mould’s effect in September 1928. Howard Florey, Ernst Chain and colleagues purified penicillin and tested it in 1940–41.
About credit
Fleming, Florey and Chain shared the 1945 Nobel Prize. Heatley, whose work was essential, was not included.
Chapter II
The world before
Life before Penicillin and Antibiotics
A scratch, a sore throat or childbirth could lead to deadly infection. Bacterial pneumonia killed many.
II
The human achievement
How it came about
Fleming noticed a clear zone around Penicillium mould on a contaminated plate. A decade later the Oxford team treated mice, then in 1941 Albert Alexander, a police officer, who improved but died when supplies ran out. Mass production in the US for D-Day saved many soldiers.
III
Understanding the invention
How it works
Penicillin and Antibiotics, explained in two steps.
01
Step 01 of 02
Attacking cell walls
Penicillin stops bacteria building their walls, so they burst.
Attacking cell walls
Resistance
IV
The transformation
What changed for humanity
Medicine
Common bacterial infections became treatable.
Public health
Life expectancy rose, though resistance is a growing problem.
Infections that were once often fatal could be treated. Antibiotics underpin modern surgery and hospital care.
V
Before and after
Life before and after Penicillin and Antibiotics
Before
Often fatal.
After
Usually cured.
On larger screens, drag the divider (or use the arrow keys) to give more room to the world before or after.
VI
Its legacy
What came after
MHI 079
Penicillin and Antibiotics
Beyond the collection
More antibiotics
Streptomycin and many others followed.
Beyond the collection
Surgery
Safe transplants and chemotherapy depend on antibiotics.
VII
Human stories
The people and the moments
The mould came back to Oxford
Heatley and colleagues grew mould in bedpans, milk churns and bath tubs because laboratory glassware was scarce in wartime.
Where accounts differ, this museum follows the documented record and says so.