This Day in History: Penicillin Is Discovered <br />September 28, 1928.<br />Penicillin was discovered by Scottish bacteriologist Sir Alexander Fleming.<br />Returning to St. Mary's Hospital in London after a vacation, Fleming noticed that a mold had contaminated Petri dishes of a common infectious bacteria Fleming was stunned to realize that the Penicillium notatum mold was preventing the growth of the bacteria.<br />Fleming concluded that the Penicillium "mold juice" could be manipulated to fight infectious diseases.<br />"I certainly didn’t plan to revolutionize all medicine by discovering the world’s first antibiotic, or bacteria killer. But I guess that was exactly what I did." Sir Alexander Fleming, via 'PBS News Hour'<br />After 14 years of trial and error, penicillin was perfected through the collaboration of Sir Fleming, Dr. Howard Florey and Dr. Ernst Chain.
