The mouldy dish is historical and worth 11,400 pounds
LONDON -- A tiny specimen of penicillin from Alexander Fleming’s laboratory sold for £11,400 at Sotheby’s in London.
The culture was mounted in a glass dish just under two inches in diameter. On the back of the case was written: “The mould which makes penicillin. A. Fleming, 1948.”
Sir Alexander Fleming discovered the germ-killing properties of Penicillium notatum in 1928, but it was not put into general use until 1940.
It was mass-produced during the Second World War, and Sir Alexander, with Ernst Chain and Howard Florey, received the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1945.
Read entire article at Times (of London)
The culture was mounted in a glass dish just under two inches in diameter. On the back of the case was written: “The mould which makes penicillin. A. Fleming, 1948.”
Sir Alexander Fleming discovered the germ-killing properties of Penicillium notatum in 1928, but it was not put into general use until 1940.
It was mass-produced during the Second World War, and Sir Alexander, with Ernst Chain and Howard Florey, received the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1945.