The Discovery and Development of Penicillin

Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin’s antibacterial action in 1928, but he did not by himself turn the discovery into a widely available medicine. In 1939, Howard Florey and Ernst Chain led an Oxford team that isolated and purified penicillin and demonstrated its therapeutic effect. Norman Heatley developed important production methods, and later collaboration between British and American laboratories enabled large-scale manufacturing during World War II.