Scientific Revolution
The Discovery
Penicillin is a powerful drug used to treat infections caused by bacteria. It was the first antibiotic (a drug produced by microbes) used successfully in the treatment of serious diseases in human beings. Various forms of the drug have become widely available for medical use since the mid-1940's. Penicillins have played a major role in treating pneumonia, rheumatic fever, scarlet fever, and many other diseases. The development of penicillin had a tremendous impact on medicine and encouraged research that lead to the discovery of many other antibiotics.(Johnson, 1991)
The improbable chain of events that led Alexander Fleming to discover penicillin in 1928 is the stuff of which scientific myths are made. Fleming, a young Scottish research scientist with a profitable side practice treating the syphilis infections of prominent London artists, was pursuing his pet theory that his own nasal mucus had antibacterial effects when he left a......
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