August 08, 2006

Trivial Tuesday

Almost 80 years ago, a Scottish biologist made an interesting discovery. He discovered that mold contaminating a petri dish he was using had inhibited the growth of bacteria near the mold. He isolated an extract from this mold which contained the antimicrobial molecule which he named penicillin. Who was this famous scientist who would go on to share the Nobel Prize for his discovery?

Congratulations to Invisible Lizard who gave us the correct answer. Alexander Fleming was the scientist who first isolated penicillin, one of the most important medical discoveries of the 20th century.

3 comments:

Matt said...

All I know is the name Flemming.

Craig said...

And that's all you really needed to know for this question. Alexander Fleming is correct.

Matt said...

Damn, I couldn't even spell it right. Well, considering the mnemonic trick I used to remember that name back in history classes, it's lucky I don't spelling it "Phlegmming."