The dramatic, untold story of the discovery of the first wonder drug, the men who led the way, and how it changed the modern world
In his wonderfully engaging book, acclaimed author Eric Lax tells the real story behind the discovery and why it took so long to develop the drug. He reveals the reasons why credit for penicillin was misplaced, and why this astonishing achievement garnered a Nobel Prize but no financial rewards for the doctor that discovered it and the team that developed it. Alexander Fleming's discovery of penicillin in his London laboratory in 1928 ushered in a new age in medicine. But it took a team of Oxford scientists headed by Howard Florey and Ernst Chain four more years to develop it as the first antibiotic, and the most important family of drugs in the twentieth century. At once the world was transformed -- major bacterial scourges such as blood poisoning and pneumonia, scarlet fever and diphtheria, gonorrhea and syphilis were defeated. Penicillin helped to foster not only a medical revolution but a sexual one as well. The Mold in Dr. Florey's Coat is the compelling story of the passage of medicine from one era to the next and of the eccentric individuals whose participation in this extraordinary accomplishment has, until now, remained largely unknown. "Admirable, superbly researched . . . perhaps the most exciting tale of science since the apple dropped on Newton's head." -- Simon Winchester, The New York TimesThis is an excellent book that covers the development of Penicillin during world war II and the interwar years. Dr. Fleming was the first to discover the penicillin properties but never really was able to develop it. He would wind up with much of the credit and the Nobel Prize but the real work went to Dr. Florey and his research lab at oxford. They took the penicillin broth and turned it into the injections and powders that...
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Eric Lax has written a fine and very readable book about the story of penicillin. I found myself not able to put it down. Eric Lax has put in perspective where the true credit should be for the discovery and commercialisation of penicillin, with the consequence the rise of the antibiotic industry. The book is well research and documented. It is a great shame that Florey has not gone down in history as the person to bring...
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Most of us, if asked who discovered penicillin, would answer that it was Alexander Fleming. The answer is correct as far as it goes. Most of us would probably also think that having discovered how penicillin could fight infection, Fleming got the word out and manufacture of the miracle drug began, to the benefit of all humankind. The truth is that Fleming discovered the mold's antibiotic potential in 1928, and the drug...
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Having little aptitude for the sciences and not being particularly well versed in them either, I am generally somewhat leery of picking up a book on a topic like this. But let me assure everyone that Eric Lax has given the world a very readable book here. "The Mold In Dr. Florey's Coat" chronicles the fascinating story of the discovery of penicillin by Alexander Fleming in his laboratory in England in the late 1920's. While...
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This book covers more than twenty-five years of the quest for a viable bacteria fighter recounting the lives of the major players and further depicting the slow progress of medical invention combating infection through all history. The most critical era of this story, however, is coincidently the most important and harrowing years of the 20th century. The all too real threat of a Nazis invasion of Great Britain served as the...
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