The Wonder Drug of the 1940s

Shivani Gupta

Junior Division

Historical Paper

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“We could hardly believe our eyes upon seeing that bacteria could be killed off without, at the

same time, killing the patient. It was not just amazement; it was a revolution”

- Lewis Thomas, former Dean of Yale Medical School (Woodward 254).

In 1942, thirty-one year old Anne Miller was suffering from a streptococcal infection and

a mortiferous fever of 107 degrees Fahrenheit. Her condition continued to deteriorate at the

Yale-New Haven Hospital. Miller’s physician, Dr. Bumstead, feared that she would not be able

to survive any longer from her delirious condition. Miraculously, he remembered his colleagues

discussing the research being conducted on penicillin as it was believed that the drug possessed

therapeutic value. After discussing his theory with his coworkers about administering penicillin

to Mrs. Miller, Bumstead received 5.5 grams of penicillin from Merck Pharmaceuticals. It was

half the amount of penicillin available in the United States. After receiving hourly doses of the

drug, Mrs. Miller’s fever of 107 degrees disappeared within eighteen hours, and she returned to a

healthy state within twenty-four hours (Saxon, par. 2-5; Lax 1). Thus began the revolution of

penicillin.

The use of penicillin as a drug was a revolution in medicine as it was the first antibiotic,

resulted in a strong worldwide reaction regarding the drug’s ameliorative power, and opened a

gateway to reform in the field of healthcare.

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Revolution:

“Before the discovery of penicillin, receiving a simple scratch from a thorn bush could

result in a bacterial infection, leading surgeons to amputate affected body parts. Soldiers died

more commonly from infections compared to battle wounds,” explained Karen Peterson,

Archivist and Assistant Professor of the OHSHU Historic Collections and Archives. In fact, of

the ten million soldiers killed in World War I, about half died not from bullets but rather from

infections in minor lesions. Hospitals were considered places to die. The only medications

available in clinical use during 1941 were quinine, quinacrine, and sulfonamides (Hobby 235).

There were numerous incurable diseases during the early twentieth century. Septicemia,

or blood poisoning, could easily be caught and was life-threatening. Gas gangrene decayed parts

of the body, and the infection could then spread throughout the body (Vorvick, Vyas, and Zieve,

Internet; “Death from Earth” par. 3).

Medical discoveries helped fight these deadly diseases. The story of one such discovery,

penicillin, begins with the fathers of microbiology: Louis Pasteur, Joseph Lister, and Robert

Koch. Using Pasteur’s theory stating that diseases originated from microorganisms, Joseph Lister

developed the concept of antiseptic surgery in 1871. He believed that antiseptics should be used

to kill bacterial wounds because bacterial infections were harmful to the human body

(“Penicillin,” Internet; Seymour 2). By 1884, Robert Koch had developed microbial techniques

that helped him identify a disease causing organism. “The establishment of Pasteur’s theory and

the perfection of bacterial techniques by Koch opened the way for rapid advances that were

made early in twentieth century” (Hobby 5).

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By the 1900s, the race to identify germs had begun. During this period of medical

advancement, Sir Alexander Fleming joined the Inoculation Department at St. Mary’s Hospital

Medical School in London in 1906 (Jacobs 26).

In early September of 1928, a revolutionary discovery occurred at St Mary’s laboratory.

Fleming had found a plate culture of Staphylococcus aureus, a type of bacteria present in blood

poisoning and abscesses, which had been contaminated by the growth of a mold. This mold was

named Penicillium notatum. Fleming commented later, “It made an antibacterial substance

which I christened penicillin” (Fleming, Speech). Fleming believed that the active ingredient in

the mold, penicillin, could be used as an antibacterial agent. Trying to publicize his important

discovery, Fleming published a paper on his observations in 1929 in the British Journal of

Experimental Pathology. This paper was ignored by the science community, and soon, Fleming

lost interest in penicillin (Sneader 289-290).

A decade later in 1938, Ernst Chain chanced upon Fleming’s paper on penicillin while

studying at Oxford University in London. When he espied the article, Chain remarked, “It was

sheer luck that I came across Fleming’s paper” (Bankston 48). Howard Florey, Professor of

Pathology at Oxford, invited Chain to collaborate with him in September 1935 (“The Royal

Society’s New President” 1528). Norman George Heatley was invited in 1936 to join Florey’s

team. The research team started working with the penicillin mold in 1938 at Oxford (Perrson

232). While Heatley tried to isolate penicillin from its mold, Florey allotted Chain to work on

discovering the properties of penicillin (Clark 60).

The scientists were necessitated to improvise due to the lack of equipment available at the

time. On September 1, 1939, German troops invaded Poland. With no other option, Britain and

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France were compelled to interfere, initiating World War II. Food, clothing, and gasoline were

rationed in Britain as each citizen was left to cope with meager resources. Funding for medical

research was cut, and Florey’s team was left with nothing (Jacobs 59-60).

Florey refused to allow money to be a factor from preventing his team to conduct further

research on penicillin. Turning to the Rockefeller Foundation in New York City, Florey’s project

was funded with more than five thousand dollars a year (Li 49). Florey’s team began their work

on penicillin. Using the chemical ether, Heatley extracted penicillin from the mold. He used the

method of freeze drying to preserve the unstable substance (“Making Penicillin Possible:

Norman Heatley Remembers” par. 3).

Finally, with their supply of penicillin, the team decided to experiment on mice. On

Saturday, May 25, 1940, Florey’s team tested the drug by injecting eight mice with streptococci

bacteria. Four mice were used as the control and four were treated with penicillin. In twenty-

four hours, the control mice had died, but the mice that had been administered penicillin had

been cured. Scientists were amazed by penicillin’s therapeutic potential (LeFanu 10). Although

this was a major discovery, the team understood that a man is about three thousand times larger

than a mouse (Evans par. 6).

Due to the threat of bombs from the war, Florey moved his research team to Peoria,

Illinois to expedite the management of penicillin (Fiechter and Beyeler 4). The production of

penicillin occurred here because the facility used great fermentation techniques, a process

compulsory for the production of penicillin (Giguere 59). A special environment was vital for

penicillin as it grew best in small shallow containers and required large quantities of air. In vast

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fermentation tanks, corn steep liquor was added to increase the yield of penicillin fifteen to

twenty times more (Fogel, Internet).

The world’s first antibiotic had been developed, and it could now be available for clinical

use. “Penicillin revolutionized medicine and human health because it was the first antibiotic to

be used against various serious infectious diseases and conditions,” stated Alexander Stern,

Professor in the History of Medicine at the University of Michigan.

The drug was non-toxic, antibacterial, and it did not interfere with white blood cells or

the human body’s natural antibodies. Furthermore, it combated blood-stream infections, gas

gangrene, pneumonia, meningitis, empymea, peritonitis, bone infection, gonorrhea, and syphilis

(“British Doctor’s Find Has Been Developed by Research in the U.S.” 61). Dr. Meenakshi Gupta

commented, “Scientists learned that the drug prevents new cell walls from forming, which, in

turn, prevents bacteria from reproducing. Due to this effect, diseases cannot spread. Furthermore,

the -lactam ring, a core structure of penicillin, weakens cell walls of the disease, allowing the

body to rupture the cells.”

Reaction:

Penicillin resulted in a strong reaction from the world as it cured deadly diseases. Kevin

Brown, Trust Archivist and Museum Curator of the Alexander Fleming Laboratory Museum,

said, “Penicillin was hailed as a wonder drug.” For example, the War Production Board, WPB,

was established in 1942 for the rationing of raw materials and supplies. The first five American

companies to produce penicillin were Merck and Co., E.R. Squib and Sons, Chas. Pfizer and Co.,

Winthrop Laboratories, and Abbott Laboratories (Joklik 526). The WPB began to manage the

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production of penicillin in 1943, and it prioritized the military to receive the drug first (Bud 43).

In August 1943, the WPB had to authorize nine more firms to increase the production of

penicillin to keep up with the rising demand of penicillin. Companies began to construct

facilities to produce and manufacture sufficient amounts of penicillin for the demanding public

(“Nine Firms to Expand to Make Penicillin” par. 2; Laurence E7).

From January to May 1943, only 400 units of penicillin had been made; by the time the

war ended in 1945, U.S. companies were manufacturing about 650 billion units a month. There

was now an adequate supply to treat the whole world (Fogel, Internet; Joklik 527). Penicillin

could be bought in general pharmacies in the United States by March 15, 1945 (“War Effort,”

Internet).

During World War I, one in five soldiers died of pneumonia. However, by World War II,

only one in one thousand soldiers died of pneumonia (Rowland 128-129). Once penicillin

became available to general public, the mortality rate of young children with bacterial

pneumonia fell from sixty-six percent to six percent (Woodward 254).

During a fire in Boston in December 1945, two hundred people were injured. To treat

third degree burns, victims were prescribed units of penicillin to help in their recovery.

Physicians described the drug as a “new germ killer that was more potent against infections than

sulfa drugs” (“Lessons of Disaster” par. 5).

Doctors agreed that, compared to sulfa drugs, penicillin was more effective against

fighting diseases. Sulfa drugs were full of acid and unhealthy for the body (Hill 325; “Acid

Content Will Indicate Disease Fighting Value” 89). Penicillin became known as the most popular

drug as physicians regarded penicillin as “one of the most powerful antibacterial substances with

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predominantly bacteriostatic action ever known” (“Penicillin Stops Germ Growth at Dilution of

1:12,000,000” 11).

Dr. Robert Bud, Principal Curator of Medicine at London’s Science Museum, stated,

“ The American citizens were very excited and eager to get hold of penicillin and used it for any

infection, irrespective of whether it would work against the agents of that infection. So, patients

used it for viral infections, such as colds and flu, on which it had no effect.”

Patients who were given the new drug often did not follow recommended guidelines. For

example, patients with strep throat would be prescribed a ten day treatment of penicillin, but as

they would begin to feel better, patients would stop the treatment after three days. Thus, the

antibiotic would only weaken the germ, instead of killing it (“Medicine’s ‘Magic Bullets’

Sometimes Miss the Target” par.8). Fleming had warned, “Too small doses will result in

microbes resisting penicillin. This resistance can be passed on to others quite quickly. So, it

might happen that one day somebody influenced with septicemia won’t be able to be cured by

penicillin” (“Don’t Abuse Penicillin” 104). Fleming’s prediction came true. Physicians soon

discovered penicillinase, an enzyme produced by bacteria which antagonizes penicillin. It causes

resistance to penicillin during the course of an infection (Sambamurthy 241).

In addition to this problem, some people started developing allergies to penicillin. One

reaction was anaphylactic shock, a life-threatening allergic reaction. Today, two out of one

hundred people are not able to tolerate the treatment of penicillin (Pichler 190; Wilson 52).

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Reform:

Penicillin led to many reforms in the use of antibiotics. As its limitations were realized,

scientists began to study and invent different classes of antibiotics. In 1945, Dorothy Hodgkin

identified penicillin’s chemical structure (Bowden, Crow, and Sullivan 82). It was found to be

part of lactam antibiotics group, a group consisting of antibiotic agents that contain a

lactam ring in their molecular structure. This was a major discovery because other

medications could be based from its structure (O’Hare and White 2). Dr. Dutfield, author of

Intellectual Property Rights and the Life Science Industries: A Twentieth Century History,

explained, “Once the chemical structure of penicillin was found, all scientists had to do was to

tweak it in various different ways. For example, scientists would modify the structure by adding

the so-called side chains or additional compounds that can be attached to the molecule.”

Eventually, Ernst Chain worked with the side chains of penicillin to create the first semi-

synthetic penicillin, phenethecillin. The older penicillin, developed during the 1940s, was known

as biosynthetic penicillin, and it could only be taken intravenously or intramuscularly (Wilson

267-68; Rosenberg 133). Semi-synthetic penicillin could be taken orally, had a stronger

antibiotic effect, and was resistant to penicillinase (O’Hare and White 2).

In the meantime, one of the successors to penicillin was being made, cephalosporin. This

drug was discovered by Professor Giuseppe Brotzu in the sewage drainage of Sardinia. Out of

cephalosporin P, N, and C, cephalosporin C sparked the most interest in scientists. It was

determined that although it could not be used for treatment of typhoid, it could kill penicillinase.

Doctors were captivated by this antibiotic because it was less toxic to animals and it could be

taken orally. Although the drug was capable of curing major diseases, progress to contrive the

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drug was slow. Although it was discovered in 1945, work on the drug did not begin until in

1947. Cephalosporin C appeared in the market in 1964 (Wilson 252).

New medicines were not the only reforms associated with penicillin. Without the

discovery of penicillin, surgeons would not have been able to conduct cardiac surgery and organ

transplants (Hobby 237). On December 10, 1945, the Nobel Prize was given to Alexander

Fleming, Ernst Chain, and Howard Florey in Physiology or Medicine for their discovery of

penicillin and its curative effect in various infectious diseases. The $30,000 prize was split

between the threesome (“The Nobel for Penicillin” 84).

Since then, penicillin has evolved into a family of antibiotics. It was discovered that

penicillin was not a single compound, but a group of closely related compounds, all with the

same ring-like structure. Some semi-synthetic penicillins that are used for clinical use today

include amoxicillin, ampicillin, methicillin, oxacillin, and cloxacillin (Mann 51).

Penicillin was a revolution in medical history as it was the first antibiotic that was

bacteriostatic and had therapeutic properties. Men and women no longer died of scratches and

mild infections. This medical breakthrough received a positive and negative reaction. Although

death rates had decreased, the negative reaction was due to the carelessness of patients. This

carelessness led to penicillinase, which gave direction to needed reforms in the field of

healthcare. Soon, penicillin was supplementing generations of potent antibiotics that have

represented dramatic advances in treating serious infections. As Norman Heatley said,

“Penicillin turned from an academic curiosity into a lifesaving drug that transformed medical

treatment worldwide” (“Making Penicillin Possible: Norman Heatley Remembers” par. 3).

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Annotated Bibliography

Primary Sources:

“Acid Content Will Indicate Disease Fighting Value.” Newsweek 26. 21 Sept. 1945: 89.

This article was informative because it talked about sulfa drugs, one of the drugs

available during the time of penicillin. Penicillin was proven to be more effective compared to

sulfa drugs.

“British Doctor’s Find Has Been Developed by Research in the U.S.” Life 17:3. 17 July 1944:

61.

This article provided insight on the diseases penicillin could cure by 1944. It soon

became one of the most popular drugs during the twentieth century.

“Death from Earth.” Newsweek 26. 6 Aug. 1945: 71.

This article talked about the infectious disease, gas gangrene. It was a major medical

problem during the early 1900’s.

“Don’t Abuse Penicillin.” Newsweek 26. 9 July 1945: 104.

This magazine article was helpful because it explained the negative reaction of penicillin

in America. When penicillin’s supply went from scarce to plenty, people wanted the miracle

drug for minor wounds, causing penicillin-resistant germs to grow.

Fleming, Alexander. 11 Dec. 1945. www.nobelprize.org. 27 Nov. 2011.

This was the speech delivered by Alexander Fleming after receiving the Nobel Prize in

Physiology and Medicine in 1945. It was helpful because it showed Fleming’s thoughts on the

accidental discovery of penicillin.

Hill, Charles. “Cannibal Mold More Powerful Germ-Killer Than Sulfa Drugs.” Science News

Letter. 22 Nov. 1941: 325.

This article was written by the Deputy Secretary of the British Medical Association. Hill

stated that penicillin was one of the most important contributions to human knowledge, as it

cured diseases better than the sulfa drugs.

Laurence, William. “More Penicillin.” New York Times. 1 Aug. 1943: E7.

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This source was informative because it showed that by 1943, penicillin was in demand as

production was increased. Penicillin resulted in a strong reaction from the American population

because it could cure lethal diseases.

“Lessons of Disaster.” Newsweek. 28 Dec. 1945: 68.

This was a useful article because it talked about penicillin saving hundreds of lives from

a fatal fire in Boston. Doctors began to be aware of its special bacteriostatic powers.

“Making Penicillin Possible: Norman Heatley Remembers.” Science Watch Nov.-Dec. 1995.

This interview with Heatley was helpful because it gave insight on his personal thoughts

on penicillin. He gave inside information in the interview; for example, he described how he

improvised during hard time of warfare.

“Nine Firms to Expand to Make Penicillin.” New York Times. 30 Aug. 1943.

This article was insightful as it showed the impact of penicillin in such a short time. By

1943, businesses were expanding to produce penicillin.

“Penicillin.” Time. 8 Feb. 1943. www.time.com. 29 Dec. 2011.

This article described the properties of penicillin that were known to the general public

during 1943. It was helpful because it showed how far penicillin had advanced in medical

science.

“Penicillin Stops Germ Growth at Dilution of 1:12,000,000.” Science News Letter. 4 July 1942:

11.

This article was helpful because it described penicillin in experimental works with

patients. It showed the perspective of physicians regarding penicillin.

Rosenberg, David. “The Excretion of Penicillin in the Spinal Fluid in Meningitis.” Science

100:2589. 11 Aug. 1944: 132-133.

Lieutenant Commander at the United States Navy Reserve, Rosenberg tested the effect of

penicillin for cure of meningitis, a disease. It was helpful because it described that bio-synthetic

penicillin could only be taken intramuscularly.

“The Nobel for Penicillin.” Newsweek 26. 5 Nov. 1945: 84.

This source talked about Fleming, Florey, and Chain’s work on penicillin. They won the

Nobel Prize in 1945.

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Secondary Sources:

“Alexander Fleming and Penicillin.” www.historylearningsite.co.uk. 27 Nov. 2011.

This website quickly summarized the main events that led to the discovery of the drug

use of penicillin. It was helpful because it provided precise details from 1920-1945.

Bankston, John. Alexander Fleming and the Story of Penicillin. Hockessin: Mitchell Lane, 2002.

Bankston talked about the background from where Fleming came from, showing that

Fleming had interest in bacteriology not chemistry. It was helpful because it elaborated on

Fleming’s work on penicillin.

Bowden, Mary Ellen, Amy Beth Crow, and Tracy Sullivan. Pharmaceutical Achievers: The

Human Face of Pharmaceutical Research. New York: Chemical Heritage Foundation,

2003.

This resource was helpful because it talked about the achievement of discovering

penicillin’s chemical structure. Discovered by Dorothy Hodgkin, the chemical structure allowed

scientists to invent other antibiotics.

Brown, Kevin. Personal Interview. 23 March 2012.

Trust Archivist and Museum Curator at the Alexander Fleming Laboratory Museum,

Brown is knowledgeable on the topic of penicillin. He was helpful because he described the

worldwide reaction received from penicillin.

Bud, Robert. Penicillin: Triumph and Tragedy. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.

This book was a perspective source because it talked about the problems experienced

during the times of production of penicillin. There were many sick people, but a limited amount

of penicillin.

Bud, Robert. Personal Interview. 21 Jan. 2012.

Dr. Bud, a historian of medicine, works as the Principal Curator of Medicine at the

Science Museum in London. He provided insightful information as he explained the

development of penicillin-resistant bacteria.

Clark, Ronald. The Life of Ernst Chain: Penicillin and Beyond. New York: Bloomsburg

Publishing, 2011.

This biography of Dr. Ernst Chain describes his work in penicillin in precise details. It

was a helpful resource because the book explained Chain and Heatley’s main contribution to

penicillin.

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Dutfield, Graham, Personal Interview. 1 Feb. 2012.

Dr. Dutfield has written a book on penicillin called Intellectual Property Rights and Life

Science Industries: Past, Present, and Future. He was helpful because he explained the

importance of the discovery of penicillin’s chemical structure.

Evans, Ruth. “Norman Heatley.” The Guardian. 9 Jan. 2004.

This newspaper article was resourceful because it explained Heatley’s contribution to the

discovery of the drug use of penicillin. Heatley played a major role in the invention of penicillin,

but he was discredited for his works.

Fiechter, A. and Walt Beyeler. History of Modern Biotechnology. New York: Springer, 2000.

This book was helpful in showing the transition from Great Britain to the United States to

expedite process of making penicillin. Production of penicillin was moved to Peoria, Illinois due

to the threat of bombs in Britain.

“Fleming Discovers Penicillin 1928 – 1945.” Public Broadcasting Service. www.pbs.org. 27

Nov. 2011.

This website focused on the production of penicillin in America. It was helpful because it

also provided statistics of the amount of penicillin sold in the United States.

Fogel, Robert. “Penicillin: The First Miracle Drug.” 8 Dec. 2006. www.herbarium.usu.edu. 27

Nov. 2011.

This website was helpful because it showed how penicillin destroyed the bacterial

infection without harming the person. Also, it provided information on how penicillin was made

so it could be available for large production.

Giguere, Raymond. Molecules That Matter. New York: Chemical Heritage Foundation, 2008.

This resource was helpful because it showed that in order to manufacture penicillin,

fermentation techniques would be required. For this reason, work on penicillin was moved to the

United States.

Gupta, Meenakshi. Personal Interview. 23 March 2012.

Dr. Gupta is an internist who works at the Lowell Community Health Center in

Massachusetts. She provided useful information because she described how penicillin killed

bacteria.

Jacobs, Francine. Breakthrough – The True Story of Penicillin. New York, Dodd, Mead &

Company, 1985.

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This book was very useful because it provided accurate information on the medications

available before penicillin. It was a good source because it described the effect of the war on the

discovery of penicillin.

Joklik, Wolfgang K. “The Story of Penicillin: The View from Oxford in the Early 1950’s.”

Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology 10 (1996):

525 – 528.

Joklik joined the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology in Oxford and worked under

Howard Florey in 1949. This article, however, used information obtained from other sources. In

general, this source was useful because it talked about the drugs invented after penicillin.

Hobby, Gladys L. Penicillin: Meeting the Challenge. Binhamgton: Yale University Press, 1985.

This book was helpful because it showed the medications used before penicillin. It

explained how the penicillin drug opened a gate for discoveries to be made in medical science.

Lax, Eric. The Mold in Dr. Florey’s Coat. New York: Henry and Holt Company, 2004.

This source showed that although Fleming discovered penicillin, Florey’s team found the

therapeutic use of penicillin. The book described the medical advances before penicillin, and

showed the major impact penicillin had on the world.

LeFanu, James. The Rise and Fall of Modern Medicine. New York: Carroll and Graf Publishers,

2000.

Lefanu is a medical columnist for the Daily and Sunday Telegraph. This book was useful

because it described the mice experiment conducted in which Florey’s team tested the use of

penicillin.

Li, Jie Jack. Triumph of the Heart: A Story of Statins. London: Oxford University Press, 2009.

This book was informative because it explained about the effect of war on penicillin.

Florey’s team had to turn to the Rockefeller Foundation for money to continue work on

penicillin.

Mann, J. Life Saving Drugs: The Elusive Magic Bullet. London: Royal Society of Chemistry,

2004.

Mann is part of the Royal Society of Chemistry in Great Britain. This book was insightful

because it showed the different types of semi-synthetic penicillins that have been created.

“Medicine’s ‘Magic Bullets’ Sometimes Miss the Target.” Medical Update. 1 July 1993.

15

This article was useful because it showed how people soon became careless of their

treatments of penicillin, leading to grow penicillin-resistant bacteria. The evolution of this

bacterium led to a needed reform in the field of medical science.

O’Hare, Tom and Lynne White. “Penicillin Production.” Dublin City University. www.dcu.ie.

10 Feb. 2011.

This article was helpful because it talked about how penicillin led to reforms in medical

science. After large production of penicillin had started, resistance to penicillin began to occur.

Perrson, Sherryl. Smallpox, Syphilis, and Salvation: Medical Breakthroughs That Changed the

World. New York: Exisle Publishing, 2010.

This book was helpful because it showed how Heatley was invited to join Florey’s team

for research on penicillin. Without Heatley, penicillin’s drug use would never have been

discovered.

Peterson, Karen. Personal Interview. 26 March 2012.

Ms. Peterson is an Archivist and Assistant Professor at the Oregon Health and Science

University Historical Collections and Archives. She was helpful in explaining the time period

before the discovery and subsequent use of antibiotics in medical care.

Pichler, Werner. Drug Hypersensitivity. New York: Karger Publishers, 2007.

This resource was perceptive because it talked about one of the allergic reactions from

penicillin, anaphylactic shock. This reaction could even take somebody’s life.

Rowland, John. The Penicillin Man. New York: Roy Publishers, 1957.

This book was useful because it provided several statistics on penicillin’s impact on the

war, comparing death rates and diseases. Before penicillin, most deaths were related to bacterial

infections.

Sambamurthy, K. Pharmaceutical Biotechnology. New York: New Age International, 2006.

This book was useful in showing that resistance to penicillin grew quickly. Penicillinase

led to needed reform in healthcare.

Saxon, Wolfgang. “Anne Miller, 90, First Patient Who Saved By Penicillin.” New York Times 9

July 1999. Internet.

This newspaper article was helpful because it provided information on Anne Miller, who

was the first successful patient of penicillin. Penicillin cured her fever, bacterial infection, and

disease within 48 hours.

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Seymour, Wendy. Remaking the Body: Rehabilitation and Change. New York: Psychology

Press, 1998.

This book was helpful because it talked about the gates that Pasteur, Lister, and Koch

opened in the field of medicine. Their discoveries led to young scientists improving the field of

medicine.

Sneader, Walter. Drug Discovery: A History. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 2005.

This resource was useful because it talked about Fleming’s work on penicillin. He

published an article in a journal, but it was ignored, so he gave up working on penicillin.

Stern, Alexander. Personal Interview. 23 March 2012.

Dr. Stern is a Professor in the History of Medicine at the University of Michigan. She

was helpful because she described how penicillin revolutionized medical history.

“The Royal Society’s New President.” New Scientist 8:212. 8 Dec. 1960: 1528.

This magazine was launched in 1956 for men and women who were interested in

scientific discoveries and their behavior in the industry. This article was insightful as it explained

how Florey assembled his team to work on penicillin.

“The War Effort.” American Chemical Society. www.acswebcontent.acs.org. 27 Nov. 2011.

This article emphasized on the wars that were going on during the time of penicillin. As

World War I ended, World War II started. The discovery of penicillin helped save over 80

million lives.

Torok, Simon. “Howard Florey – Maker of the Miracle Mound.” Australian Broadcasting

Corporation. www.abc.net.au. 15 Dec. 2011.

Torok explained the impact penicillin had in the field of healthcare. Previously, people

were dying of simple cuts from thorn bushes, so when penicillin’s medicinal property was

discovered, it quickly resolved the fear from minor injuries.

Wilson, David. In Search of Penicillin. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1976.

Wilson, Science Correspondent of BBS, believes the story of penicillin is a journey. This

book was informative because it described how penicillin opened a gate to antibiotics, leading to

other discoveries of drugs to fight diseases.

Woodward, Billy. Scientists Greater Than Einstein: The Biggest Lifesavers of the Twentieth

Century. Fresno: Quill Driver Books, 2009.

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This book described the production process of penicillin. It was helpful because it

showed how penicillin was made in England, but it was commercially produced in America.

Vorvick, Linda, Jatin Vyas, and David Zieve. Septicemia. 8 Aug. 2011. National Library of

Medicine. 30 Nov. 2011.

This article focused on the most common disease during the 1930s, blood poisoning or

septicemia. It claimed the lives of numerous soldiers on the battlefield.