What is Penicillin?

• Penicillin, technically, is a mold. However, the penicillin mold is also valued as an antibiotic agent, meaning it can kill infections.
  
  

First Discovery

• Penicillin was discovered in France in 1896 by a medical student named Ernest Duchesne. In 1928 Alexander Fleming came across the same mold feature in England, and the following year he wrote his findings in a paper, noting that if penicillin's bacteria-killing feature could be mass-produced it would be a huge medical benefit.
  
  

The First Practical Application

• In 1939, Howard Florey and Norman Heatley found a way to mass-produce penicillin in a powder form. They expanded Fleming's work and conclusively showed that penicillin worked against bacteria, but it wasn't until 1941 that the end product was packaged and available for use on the battlefield.
  
  

Mass Production

• The mass growth and production of penicillin was perfected by Florey and Heatley using huge vats and various ingredients to speed up fermentation. And it took the mold from a spoiled cantaloupe in a local market for the finishing touch.
  
  

Field Application

• Penicillin powder packets became standard military issue among field medics, and were first used en masse during the Allied D-Day invasion of Normandy in 1944.