A re‐appraisal of the conventional history of antibiosis and Penicillin

2017/02/01 by S. N. Arseculeratne, Gehan Arseculeratne · 1 citation
Medicine · #Historical Medical Research and Treatments

paper · doi:10.1111/myc.12599

openalex publication_date 2017/02/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

Summary The popular perception of the history of antibiosis and penicillin is that Alexander Fleming was the sole researcher on penicillin. The literature, however, has documentation of preceding persons who reported definitively on these topics, from the late 19 th century. Divergent reports on “firsts” in the discovery of antimicrobial activity of Penicillium and on the use of penicillin as a therapeutic agent, are present. This review adds knowledge from diverse sources, and restores historical priorities to the conventional story of Penicillin.

Citations

• Howard Florey, Alexander Fleming and the Fairy Tale of Penicillin
• On the Antibacterial Action of Cultures of a Penicillium, with Special Reference to Their Use in the Isolation of B. influenzae
• The First Use of Penicillin in the United States
• Penicillin's Forgotten Man: Norman Heatley
• PENICILLIN AS A CHEMOTHERAPEUTIC AGENT
• New light on the history of penicillin

Cited by

• History of penicillin [wikipedia]