Nature's Medicine

Photorealistic laboratory scene at St. Mary's Hospital, London, in the 1920s, where male and female scientists examine petri dishes and flasks, marking the beginning of the discovery of penicillin.

The Surprising Origin of Penicillin

The story of penicillin begins in a laboratory at St. Mary's Hospital in London during the year 1928. Alexander Fleming, a professor of bacteriology, returned from a vacation to find that one of his petri dishes containing Staphylococcus bacteria had been contaminated by mold. He noticed that the area around the mold was clear of bacterial growth and realized that the mold was producing a substance capable of killing the bacteria.

"},