A Mold with a Grudge

About this episode

This episode explores the story of how penicillin, the world's first antibiotic, was discovered through a collaboration during wartime.

It started with a messy lab and a mysterious mold. But turning “mold juice” into the world’s first antibiotic would take a sick policeman, a market cantaloupe, and an extraordinary wartime collaboration between scientists, governments, and industry. This is the story of how penicillin changed the world. Guests: Kevin Brown , Trust Archivist to Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and curator of the Alexander Fleming Laboratory Museum at St. Mary’s Hospital; author of Penicillin Man: Alexander Fleming and the Antibiotic Revolution Diane Wendt , curator in the Division of Medicine and Science at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History

People in this episode

Guests: Kevin Brown, Diane Wendt

Topics covered

• antibiotics
• history of medicine
• scientific collaboration
• World War II
• Alexander Fleming
• penicillin
• mold

Keywords

• penicillin
• antibiotic
• Alexander Fleming
• mold
• scientific discovery
• World War II
• medicine
• history

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, Alexander Fleming Laboratory Museum, Smithsonian's National Museum of American History

Books & works: Penicillin Man: Alexander Fleming and the Antibiotic Revolution

Places: St. Mary’s Hospital

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