



A sample of Penicillium mould presented by Alexander Fleming to Douglas Macleod, 1935.
The British biologist and pharmacologist Alexander Fleming gave this sample of the mould Penicillium notatum to a colleague at St Mary's Hospital, London, in 1935.
Seven years earlier, Fleming had discovered by chance that this species of mould produces a substance he called 'Penicillin' that was found to have powerful antibiotic properties. This sample marks penicillin's transition from an interesting phenomenon to a potential drug.
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Science Museum: Medicine: The Wellcome Galleries
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Details
- Category:
- Biotechnology
- Object Number:
- 1997-731
- Materials:
- copper alloy, leatherette, penicillium mould and wood
- type:
- penicillium mould, bioengineering and microbiology
- taxonomy:
-
- drug
- credit:
- Christie's South Kensington Limited
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