Silicon Valley Novel

14. Le Roi

Category – Science

The history of medicine has many critical discoveries that were made by accident. Penicillin is one of the most widely used antibiotics, yet it was detected by mistake. The Scottish doctor Alexander Fleming was doing experiments in his crowded laboratory. He had stacks of glass plates known as Petri dishes for growing various bacteria. In one of his contaminated lab cultures, Dr. Fleming made an unusual discovery. He saw that a common mold had grown in the dish and somehow killed the surrounding staphyloccus bacteria. The mold was penicillium notatum so Fleming named its active ingredient penicillin. Additional research showed that it could destroy other bacteria and be given to small animals without side effects.

Watch the video below to see Dr. Fleming in action at his laboratory –

Question –

·         How does penicillin kill bacteria?

Assignment – Learn why penicillin works and see it in action by checking out the Cells Alive website –

Click here to research the answer.