Outside the laboratory where penicillin was accidentally discovered
After a month long holiday with his family in August 1928,
Fleming returned to his laboratory. Before leaving for his holiday,
he has stacked up cultures of staphylococci in a corner. On
returning, he noticed on culture had become contaminated with a
fungus, and the surrounding area of staph had been destroyed. He
identified that this mould was a from the broad umbrella of
penicillium, and spent some months calling his discovery 'mould
juice', before naming this substance penicillin in March 1929.
The laboratory is now preserved as the Alexander Fleming
Laboratory Museum within St. Mary's Hospital.
Object no :
RI_DI_0070775
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Copyright :
East Ayrshire Council
