• Question: In your opinion, who should be credited with bringing penicillin into the world: Florey or Flemming? @swbgs

    Asked by Thomas B to Ceri, Marikka, Matt, Rob, Sally on 10 Nov 2014.
    • Photo: Robert Hampson

      Robert Hampson answered on 10 Nov 2014:

      What about Ernst Boris Chain!?

      All three were recognised by the Nobel Prize committee and shared the acclaim although Fleming is generally the one remembered and credited with the discovery (probably because it is such a good story!).

      Fleming discovered the fungi penicillium kills bacteria, he also realised that it was a single component which he named penicillin which was causing this effect. Florey and Chain discovered the chemical structure of penicillin (confirmed by the new X-ray crystallography performed by Dorothy Hodgkin) and how to mass produce it using large cultures of the fungus.

      I think Fleming probably deserves the credit as a scientist (he also discovered another useful thing called lysozyme which is still used in science today) but he completely didn’t understand the human impact. Florey and Chain probably deserve the credit for bringing antibiotics onto the market as a medicine.

    • Photo: Sally Cutler

      Sally Cutler answered on 10 Nov 2014:

      Hi Thomas,
      I think you already have a great answer from Robert. Many times in history the one getting the credit is not always the full story – look at vaccines and Jenner also!

    • Photo: Ceri Dare

      Ceri Dare answered on 10 Nov 2014:

      It is never as simple as one person – both of them will have worked with teams, and there are a lot of steps between a discovery and getting an invention which many people can use.

    • Photo: Marikka Beecroft

      Marikka Beecroft answered on 11 Nov 2014:

      I agree with Rob on this one! It never is cut and dry in drug discovery lots of people come together to make a finished product!

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