Who is credited with discovering penicillin?
Question
Who is credited with discovering penicillin?
Solution
Sir Alexander Fleming is credited with discovering penicillin. Here are the steps leading to his discovery:
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In 1928, Fleming was working at St. Mary's Hospital in London, England, as a bacteriologist.
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He returned from a two-week vacation to find that a mold called Penicillium notatum had contaminated Petri dishes in his lab where he was growing Staphylococcus bacteria.
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Fleming noticed that around the mold, the bacteria were dead or dying, which led him to hypothesize that the mold must be producing a substance that killed the bacteria.
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He decided to grow the mold by itself and found that it produced a substance that killed several disease-causing bacteria.
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He named the antibacterial substance penicillin.
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Fleming published his discovery in 1929, but it wasn't until 1945 that penicillin was mass-produced as an antibiotic.
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For his discovery, Fleming shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1945 with Howard Florey and Ernst Boris Chain, who were instrumental in developing penicillin for use as a medicine.
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The first antibiotic called penicillin was extracted from
Read the passage.Discovering PenicillinIn 1928, bacteriologist Alexander Fleming was studying Staphylococcus, a type of bacteria that can cause serious infections. He grew the bacteria in small containers called petri dishes. One day he noticed that mold had accidentally been introduced into one of the petri dishes and was startled to see that there were no bacteria around the moldy area. Fleming correctly deduced that the mold had had an antibacterial effect; somehow it had prevented the bacteria from growing. Fleming identified the mold as the strain Penicillium notatum and called its antibacterial ingredient—which he was unable to successfully extract—penicillin. Fleming's discovery of penicillin's unique effect led to the eventual finding that it could be used to treat infections. Several years after his initial observation, scientists built on his work by extracting penicillin from mold and demonstrating its effectiveness as a treatment.What is the main, or central, idea of the passage?Fleming noticed that when a strain of mold inadvertently came into contact with a petri dish, the mold prevented bacterial growth.Fleming's chance observation of the antibacterial properties of mold led to the discovery of penicillin as a treatment.Fleming came up with the name for penicillin, the bacteria-fighting ingredient in the Penicillium notatum mold.Save answer
The first antibiotics called penicillin was extracted fromSelect an answerABacteriumBProtozoan CFungusDAlgae
The main, or central, idea of the passage is Fleming's chance observation of the antibacterial properties of mold led to the discovery of penicillin as a treatment. How does the detail in bold develop the main idea?In 1928, bacteriologist Alexander Fleming was studying Staphylococcus, a type of bacteria that can cause serious infections. He grew the bacteria in small containers called petri dishes. One day he noticed that mold had accidentally been introduced into one of the petri dishes and was startled to see that there were no bacteria around the moldy area. Fleming correctly deduced that the mold had had an antibacterial effect; somehow it had prevented the bacteria from growing. Fleming identified the mold as the strain Penicillium notatum and called its antibacterial ingredient—which he was unable to successfully extract—penicillin. Fleming's discovery of penicillin's unique effect led to the eventual finding that it could be used to treat infections. Several years after his initial observation, scientists built on his work by extracting penicillin from mold and demonstrating its effectiveness as a treatment.It describes Fleming's everyday duties as a researcher.It indicates the unintentional nature of Fleming's discovery.It criticizes Fleming's procedures as unsanitary.Save answer
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